The Difference Between Pity and Love

Characters

Hunhan, Baekyeol, and Kaisoo

Description

Some people saw Oh Sehun as a charity case while others saw him as just an another plain outcast.

Nobody bothered to interact with him, and he didn't bother either.

Everyone called him "The Untouchable."

What will Luhan do when he is forced to work together with "The Untouchable?", who he claims to hate? Will he fail like everyone else did, or will he finally succeed in taking off the mask that Sehun had been wearing all his life?

 

♦A HunHan Love Story♦

 

 

"Love comes when least expected. It scares you, but you can do nothing but embrace it with your heart."

 

 

"No matter how a love story might end, the process of loving itself is the beautiful part."

 

 

"Let me say this one more time: I love you."

 

Foreword

Introducing the Characters 

Name: Xi Luhan

Age: 17, Junior in High School

Personality: Luhan is from a loving middle class family. He is quick to judge and has a sharp tongue. He is caring and loving to those who earned his trust,  but expresses it through sarcasm and teasing to his closest friends, Baekhyun and Chanyeol. He struggles in school, barely passing his classes. His close friends call him two faced and bipolar because he constantly switches from being sweet to evil. 

 

Name: Oh Sehun

Age: 16, Junior in High School

Personality: Sehun comes from a lower class with a single mother. He is extremely quiet, not because he is shy, but because he doesn't care about other people. He is a genius and skipped a grade, therefore being a junior instead of a sophomore. He is the top of every class but doesn't have friends and is a mystery to everyone around him. 

Thirty minutes left in class.

Luhan forced his eyes open and wiped the drool off his chin. He glanced at the clock on the wall and groaned out loud.

“Hey! Luhan!”

Luhan heard someone whisper his name. He frowned and turned his head slightly and faced the source of the voice.

“What?” He snapped quietly. He didn’t want to get caught but his friend was not helping.

Chanyeol grinned his signature creepy grin. He reached towards his pocket and brought out his Galaxy S III, handing it to Luhan.

“Take a picture of Baek, will ya? I can’t get a good view from here.”

Luhan stared at the phone before turning around, scanning the room for his other best friend. His eyes finally landed on a certain sleeping Bacon, and he had to bite his lips to keep himself from bursting out in laughter.

Baekhyun was currently sprawled on his desk, his eyelids slightly open. His mouth was parted and drool was flowing down like freaking niagara falls. He yelped every 5 seconds, and his classmates seated around him had an annoyed look on their faces as they glared at him.

Luhan quickly snatched the phone away from Chanyeol. Checking to see that the teacher was faced away,  Luhan turned on the phone and zoomed in, taking more than enough pictures and videos to pleasure both him and Chanyeol. Chanyeol was silently having a laughing fit in his seat, his eyes and mouth twitching and his hands clapping furiously.

“Okay then.” The teacher said abruptly, spinning around. Luhan slipped the phone to Chanyeol and faced forwards, putting on his usual poker face.

The teacher frowned and sighed out loud, putting his whiteboard marker down. Luhan heard Chanyeol gulp behind him and he couldn’t help but feel sympathy towards his best friend.

“Byun Baekhyun.” The teacher said, his voice strained with frustration and annoyance. Baekhyun didn’t move an inch and Luhan tried to keep in the laughter bubbling up.

“Byun Baekhyun!” The teacher repeated, this time a little louder. Baekhyun seat mate nudged him and told him to wake up, but Baekhyun, being the deep sleeper he was, didn’t budge.

“Byun Baekhyun!” The teacher stormed towards the sleeping boy and grabbed his ear, pulling it up. Baekhyun’s eyes fluttered open and he yelped loudly as he sprang up, grabbing his red ear.

“Owwwww. Mr. Cho, that hurts like fuck.”

Mr. Cho narrowed his eyes and brought up his hand, hitting Baekhyun on the head.

Baekhyun groaned and slumped down on his chair.

“Watch your language, Baekhyun. This is the fourth time this month. Unless you want me to call your mother and get you expelled from his school, watch it and stop sleeping in class.”

This did it for both Luhan and Chanyeol. They burst out in laughter, clutching their stomachs as they gripped their desks for support. Baekhyun glared at them from across the room.

“Look at the time.” Mr. Cho ignored the two hysterical boys and returned to the front of the class. “Class dismissed.”

Luhan watched his teacher storm out of the room, followed by a crowd of students, half amused and half annoyed. He wiped a tear away and turned around, high fiving Chanyeol.

“Hey Baek!” Chanyeol called out, grinning widely. Baekhyun stood up lazily and plopped down on top of his desk, his arms crossed and eyes narrowed. “What?”

Chanyeol took out his phone and pressed a few buttons before turning the screen towards Baekhyun. Baekhyun’s eyes widened as he watched himself fast asleep, yelping every few seconds like a poor puppy separated from it’s mother.

“You didn’t.” Baekhyun seethed. Chanyeol grinned evilly, and Luhan chuckled out loud.

“Oh, I did.”

“You bastard!” Baekhyun screamed, grabbing his bag and flailing it towards Chanyeol. Chanyeol held his phone like it was the most precious thing to him and duck down, missing the bag by only centimeters.

“You better not show that to anybody.” Baekhyun snarled, gritting his teeth. Chanyeol tilted his head, eyes wide with fake innocence.

“Oh I don’t know.” Chanyeol said. “Depends on your actions.”

“Everyone saw it already, Baek!” Luhan exclaimed from his seat. “You were yelping so loud people from across the classroom heard it. We’re not the only ones who recorded it.”

“Idiots!” Baekhyun screeched. Chanyeol grimaced and covered his ears. “You guys are my best friends! Why did you just sit there watching me make a fool out of myself?”

“That’s what best friends do.” Luhan said simply and walked over, slinging his arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder. “True friends watch their friends make an idiot out of themselves and do nothing to help them.”

“You and your fucking ridiculous logic.” Baekhyun shrug Luhan’s arm off his shoulder and stormed out with his bag. Luhan followed him closely and Chanyeol stumbled out of his

room like his awkward self.

“Now, now Baekhyun. Remember what Mr. Cho said. Watch your language.” Luhan sang teasingly. He laughed when Baekhyun groaned out loud and turned around to glare furiously at his two best friends.

“Annoying motherfuckers.”

“Byun Baekhyun!” Mr. Cho, who was walking by, stopped abruptly in front of Baekhyun. Baekhyun gulped and turned around.

“Detention for foul language. Come to my classroom by five this afternoon.”

Baekhyun’s jaw dropped open in shock as Mr.Cho walked away. Luhan and Chanyeol were already on the floor, rolling like buffalos in laughter.

“Oh, I almost forgot. Park Chanyeol and Xi Luhan. Both of you have detention for using your phone during class.”

Luhan and Chanyeol froze in their spot, their expressions mimicking Baekhyun’s. Mr. Cho walked off but the three remained in the same position.

“Fuck this Chanyeol. This is all your fault!”

“My fault? You’re the one who took the video, not me.”

“You told me to!”

“You were more than happy while you were doing it. Don’t blame me!”

While Luhan and Chanyeol were busy arguing, Baekhyun sighed and stuffed his bag into his locker before walking away from his two mental best friends.

Luhan walked into Mr. Cho’s room at precisely five, only to find it empty. He sighed and slumped down on any chair, bringing out his iPod and plugging in an earphone to listen to music while waiting. He was spacing out when he heard the door slam open.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol walked in, both of their faces screaming ‘i want to go home.’ They took their respective seats around Luhan and Luhan put away his iPod.

“What is this? Mr.Cho gives us detention and he’s late. You want to just skip?” Chanyeol whined, placing his chin on his bag.

“No way.” Baekhyun replied while he scanned the music sheet he got during choir class. “If we get caught skipping, then we’re gonna get suspended. If you want to risk it, go ahead. I’m not risking it.”

“Bo-ring.” Chanyeol drawled. Just when he faced Luhan to complain about Baekhyun’s obsession with music, the door slid open. A boy walked in and went across the room, choosing a seat in the very back corner of the room.

Chanyeol’s jaw dropped open and he spun around. He poked Baekhyun’s hip.

“Oh my god! It’s him! It’s him!”

Baekhyun sighed and slammed down his music sheet, glaring at Chanyeol.

“It’s who?”

Luhan stared at Chanyeol weirdly and leaned back in his chair, taking a glimpse at the boy. He looked to be around the same age as himself. His dark brown bangs reached almost to his eyes and his black eyes were faced downwards. He didn’t once take his eyes off the book he was reading. The boy suddenly looked up and Luhan quickly looked away.

“It’s him!”

“Park Chanyeol, you idiot. If you keep on saying that how the heck am I supposed to know! Who the fuck are you talking about?”

Chanyeol’s eyes widened and he leaped forwards, slamming his hands on top of Baekhyun’s mouth. He glanced back and checked to see if the boy heard their conversation. Luckily, he seemed too entranced by his book.

“Be quiet! He might hear you!” Chanyeol snapped. Baekhyun huffed in frustration and looked like he was on the verge of punching the lights out of Chanyeol.

“Who is this him?!” Baekhyun slammed his fist on the table.

“It’s Sehun! Oh Sehun!”

Baekhyun’s eyes widened and his mouth parted in a perfect ‘O.’

“Oh. Him.”

Luhan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and he crossed his arms.

“Who’s Oh Sehun?”

Chanyeol pointed at Sehun with his head. “Him. He’s Oh Sehun.”

Luhan scoffed and hit Chanyeol on the head. “I get that, stupid. I meant, why are you

making such a big deal out of this?”

“You’ve never heard about Oh Sehun?” Baekhyun whispered. “You know, the Untouchable.”

“The what?”

Chanyeol and Baekhyun shared frustrated looks before looking at Luhan.“He’s like the number one loner in our school. He doesn’t have any friends and doesn’t talk to anyone. He always keeps to himself.” Baekhyun whispered, clearly getting excited.

“He’s also a genius. He’s supposed to be a sophomore but skipped a year, so he’s a junior with us. Apparently he’s no.1 in every single class and takes all the advanced courses. He even came to this school in scholarship.” Chanyeol continued.

“To wrap it up in one word.” Baekhyun whispered, a grin appearing on his face. “He’s untouchable. Don’t go up to him. Don’t talk to him. Leave him alone.”

“Why is a guy like him in detention with us?” Luhan asked skeptically. “What kind of trouble could he get into? Studying too much?”

“I don’t know about that.” Chanyeol said, shrugging as he leaned back. “For all I know, he’s probably here to watch what others do during detention cause he never had one before.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Baekhyun commented, returning his gaze to his music sheet.  “The untouchable doesn’t give a fuck about what others do. He’s probably here because this room is the only one open after school.”

Luhan raised an eyebrow, about to ask a question, when he was interrupted by another abrupt sound. He turned around with a irritated frown when Mr. Cho walked in.

Mr. Cho quickly scanned the room before his eyes landed on a particular student sitting in the back corner of the room. Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Luhan held their breath and followed his gaze expectedly.

“Oh Sehun?” Mr.Cho said, his voice unusually calm. Sehun lazily lifted his head up.

“Yes?”

Mr. Cho looked a little startled at the unexpected visitor. “What are you doing here? Do you have detention?”

Sehun scoffed as if Mr. Cho had said the most ridiculous thing ever.

“No, I just needed a quiet place to study in. Is it a problem?”

If it was any other student, he or she was guaranteed to get in trouble for being so terribly rude. But Oh Sehun was an exception. Mr. Cho just nodded slightly before walking over to the three boys huddled in the center of the room.

“Good. You’ll all here in time.” He said before giving the three a long stare. “I want you three to go to the gym and tidy up everything before six thirty. I’ll be there to check up and then you’re free to go.”

Baekhyun groaned loudly right when Mr. Cho exited the room, banging his head on the table.

“Is he freaking serious? Cleaning? I was hoping for just writing ‘I will not sleep in class’ hundred times.”

“Are you kidding me? We’re not in second grade.” Chanyeol laughed, jumping up and sitting on his table, looking down at his friend. “Anyways, it’s not like you’ll stop sleeping after a single detention.”

“Let’s go guys.” Luhan grumbled as he packed his bags, heading out the door. Baekhyun and Chanyeol continued to argue as they passed him and headed to the janitor’s closet. Luhan turned around and glanced at Sehun.

“Hey. I’m Luhan. You’re Sehun right?” Luhan said as he quickly put on his sweet face only reserved for first greetings.

Sehun sighed before lifting his head, meeting Luhan’s eyes.

“Fuck off.”

Luhan’s sweet face was immediately wiped off and shock replaced it. It was only seconds before anger began to show in his eyes.

“What is wrong with you? I was trying to be nice.”

Sehun rolled his eyes. “Please. I know a two faced bitch when I see one.”

Luhan’s fist tightened and it took all his willpower to not run up to him and punch the living lights out of the guy. He whipped around and grabbed the doorknob. He turned his head in time to meet Sehun’s dark orbs.

“It takes one to know one.”

Luhan slammed the door shut before running to his two friends. Baekhyun and Chanyeol both raised their eyebrows when they saw Luhan’s cheeks flushed in anger.

“What’s wrong?” Baekhyun grunted before handing Luhan a mop. Luhan took it and without thinking twice, slammed the wall with it.

“You know what? Oh Sehun isn’t called the Untouchable because he’s a loner who doesn’t talk to anyone.”

Luhan stormed off, a cracked mop in his hand. Baekhyun and Chanyeol followed, confusion written all over their faces.

“He’s called the untouchable because he’s a fucking bastard.”

 Luhan groaned when he heard a loud thump downstairs. He forced his eyes open but immediately shut it at the intense sunlight shining through his window.

“Someone...” He mumbled as he flipped over, digging his head in his pillow. The thumping sound became louder and louder.

“Close...” He continued, a little louder than the last time. He ignored the sound come to an abrupt stop.

“THE DAMN WINDOW!” He shot out as the door slammed open, revealing his mother in all her glory.

“Xi Luhan.” His mother growled, a spatula waving threateningly in her hand. “It’s 8, for gods sake! Get your lazy ass off that bed and get ready for school!”

“But moooommmm” He whined, refusing to get up. He gulped at the silence that followed and lifted his head slightly to see his mom towering over him, holding a bucket full of ice cold water.

“No, no, mom, please, no, not that.” He pleaded, pulling his body up in a record speed of 2 seconds.

But it was too late.

The last thing he saw was his mom’s sly grin as she tilted the bucket, dumping the water on Luhan, completely soaking him. His gasped at the sudden coldness.

“MOM!” He growled, jumping up as the water dripped down his completely wet air.

“Don’t ‘mom!’ me. You asked for it. You better be down in the kitchen fully dressed and ready for school in 15 minutes or I’m bringing in the emergency bucket.”

“The emergency bucket?!” Luhan shrieked as he fumbled over to his bathroom, tugging on a towel. “You have an emergency bucket?! What kind of human being are you?”

“Now now, sweetie, I’m your mother.” Her mother blinked innocently. “With a son like you, I must be one heck of a woman, shouldn’t I?”

“The devil is more like it.” Luhan whispered but his mother was already out of the door.

Today was not his day.

Groaning in frustration, he quickly dried himself up and put on his school uniform.

“XI Luhan!” He heard a shout. Luhan gritted his teeth and yanked the door open.

“I’M COMING! DAMN IT, WOMAN, CAN’T YOU WAIT?” He yelled, poking his head out.

“DON’T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT YOU INSUFFERABLE BRAT!” Luhan heard a reply, equally annoyed and angered as he was. Luhan smirked.

Grabbing his bag, he slammed the door shut and ran downstairs and into the kitchen. He saw his mother standing up, glaring at him as he casually took his seat beside his very amused father.

“Finally decided to come down and show me that you’re alive, Luhan?” His father said, a grin sketched on his face as he sipped his coffee.

“I would’ve come down faster.” Luhan said while he glared back at his mother. “If someone didn’t find it necessary to drop a bucket full of cold water on me the first thing in the morning!”

“If I didn’t, you would probably still be in bed!” His mother snapped back as she put down a plate of freshly cooked omelets in the middle of the table. Luhan eagerly took one. His mother slapped his hand, causing him to drop the omelet back into the plate.

“You see this dad? Mom’s always bullying me!” Luhan whined as he attempted to take another one. He finally bit into it and hummed happily.  He had to admit, although his mom was a devil disguised as a human, her cooking was delicious.

Luhan’s father chuckled as he put down the newspaper he was reading and began eating himself. “I’m sorry son. That’s a problem you’ll have to solve. I’m afraid I can’t do much about it.”

“Oh, that’s right.” His mother snorted. “I had to wake you up by hitting a pan right by your ear.”

Luhan choked on his omelet and laughed. His father shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. “What can I say? Like father like son, huh?”

Luhan’s mother was about to retort when she was interrupted by a loud bang outside the house. Luhan dropped his fork and stared at the front door.

“Luhan! You’re fucking late, idiot!”

Luhan rolled his eyes at the voice he knew so well and his parents began laughing. Luhan walked over and yanked the door open, revealing a defeated looking Chanyeol and a very furious Baekhyun.

“Oh, you finally open the door. Do you know how much I called you?! We were supposed to meet at the bus stop at 7:40, but you make us come all the way to your house just because you were too lazy.”

Baekhyun huffed and put his hands on his hips while Chanyeol stood behind him with a sheepish grin.

“Umm...Baek...”

Baekhyun ignored Chanyeol and jabbed a finger in Luhan’s chest.

“You better be glad that we were nice enough that we decided to come all the way to your house instead of ditching you, you ungrateful bastard. I was this close to leaving when I decided, with all the generosity of my heart, I’d give you a second chance.”

“Baek, I really thi-” Chanyeol opened his mouth only to be stopped by Baekhyun’s glare.

“You better have a hell of a good excuse for not being there on time or I swear, I will personally make you taste what hell’s like.”

Luhan rolled his eyes at his friend’s threat. Baekhyun narrowed his eyes and took a step forward.

“You think I’m joking? You don’t have any idea what I’m capable of. I can make you beg for mercy in less than 5 seconds. Think twice before saying anything.”

Chanyeol, who finally had enough, hit Baekhyun on the head to make him shut up.

“Oh my god Baekhyun, shut up! Luhan’s parents are right there!”

Baekhyun’s jaw dropped and he slowly turned around, peeking over Luhan’s shoulders. On the kitchen table sat Luhan’s mother with a very stern look on her face and his father with a scowl.

“Oh shit.”

Chanyeol sighed in defeat and pushed Baekhyun to the side.

“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Xi! Excuse Baekhyun’s rant, he...um...didn’t know you two would be at home.”

Luhan sighed and turned around to grab his bag before pushing his friends out of the

house.

“I’m going to school!” He shouted as he shut the door behind him before casually walking to the bus stop. Baekhyun followed like a lost puppy while Chanyeol had an amused look on his face.

“You..I...don’t...can’t...” Baekhyun stuttered. Luhan ignored him and piled into the bus, taking a seat at the very back. Chanyeol sat in front of him with Baekhyun beside him.

“I think he means to say ‘do you think your parents hate me?’” Chanyeol faced Luhan, propping his elbows on the seat rim. Luhan smirked and leaned his head against the window.

“Oh, I don’t know. You did mess things up pretty bad this time, Baek. You called me an ungrateful bastard. I’m sure no parent will be happy hearing their son’s best friend calling their son that.”

“But it was true!” Baekhyun whined as if it was an acceptable excuse. Luhan frowned and slapped him on the head.

“Listen, Baek, I’ll give you some life advice.” Chanyeol said and leaned in. Baekhyun faced him with an eager look.

“In situations like these, you just shut the fuck up and don’t say a word.”

Baekhyun grew red and grabbed his bag to hit Chanyeol with. Chanyeol quickly sprang up from his seat and sat at the opposite corner of the bus.

“YAH! PARK CHANYEOL!”

Chanyeol sighed and faced Luhan.

“He’s still not learning the lesson!” 

 

*Ring  Ring*  

-Homeroom-

Luhan ran into the classroom just in time. He shuffled through the class to find his seat and Chanyeol and Baekhyun take their respective seats in front of him.

“Okay class.” The teacher spoke up. “Now that everyone is here, I’ll continue with what I

was going to say.”

Luhan rolled his eyes and slumped down, getting ready to sleep. He wasn’t a sucker when it came to education. If he could avoid it, he did.

“There has been some schedule changes. That’s why you might notice that a few students are not present.”

Come to think of it, the classroom had been much smaller than he had remembered.

“Therefore, we have a few students joining us from today.” Mr. Cho turned to his right and nodded. The door slid open and Luhan heard the shuffling of feet. Luhan groaned and dug his head in his arms so he could sleep in peace.

“Introduce yourself.” Mr. Cho spoke.

Luhan heard a pause before a voice spoke up.

“Hello, my name is Do Kyungsoo.” A boy said in a quiet voice. Luhan heard some mumbling before a louder voice spoke next.

“Name’s Kim Jongin.” He said, and Luhan couldn’t help but feel that he sounded abnormally arrogant. “But call me that, and you’re all dead. Call me Kai.”

Luhan scoffed and mentally rolled his eyes. He heard snickering, and knew without having to look that his two friends agreed with him.

A long silence filled the classroom once again. Luhan heard voices urgently whispering to each other before a loud sigh was heard.

“My name’s Oh Sehun.”

Luhan froze when he heard the familiar snide voice. His body immediately sprang up and he pointed at the boy accusingly.

“You! What are you doing here?!”

Sehun stood there with a bored expression. Baekhyun gawked at Luhan’s sudden outburst while Chanyeol looked like he was just trying to keep in his laughter.

“Umm...because this is my class?” Sehun retorted before walking to the back of the class, which was unfortunately behind Luhan. He sat down and stared at Luhan’s distraught expression.

“You planned this didn’t you?! Just so you could torture me. You did this on purpose!” Luhan shrieked, slamming his fist on Sehun’s desk. “And why are you sitting here?! Go away! I don’t want you to sit so close to me!”

Sehun took a deep breath and said slowly, like he was talking to a little baby. “Chill. I don’t want to be close to you too. But look around. This is the only window seat.”

“You don’t have to sit at a window seat.”

Sehun scoffed and leaned forward, his eyes narrowed. “I want to.”

Luhan’s eyes flared in anger and he lifted his fist to give the guy a piece of his mind when he was interrupted by Mr. Cho.

“That’s enough, Luhan! Sit down and calm yourself. Kyungsoo and Jongin, you see those seats before Baekhyun and Chanyeol right? Yes, they’re the guys laughing their asses off right now. Go sit in front of them.”

Jongin slung his bag over his shoulder and slumped down in his seat. Kyungsoo, who refused to look at anyone in the eye, sat next to Jongin timidly.

“Dude, Kyung, cheer up.” Jongin joked and shoved Kyungsoo’s shoulder. Kyungsoo cracked a smile but didn’t look up.

“Oh, so you two know each other?” Chanyeol piped up, finally calm from his laughing spree. Baekhyun was busy calming down Luhan to do anything.

“Yeah, we were in the same class before.” Jongin said. “Kyung’s a naturally shy guy. Good luck trying to make him talk to you.”

“Well, I’ll certainly try.” Chanyeol smiled good naturedly and stuck out his hand. “Hey, my name is Park Chanyeol! And those two behind me acting like idiots are my best friends, Byun Baekhyun and Xi Luhan.”

Kyungsoo finally tore his eyes away from his shoes and smiled a little before shaking Chanyeol’s hand.

“My name’s Do Kyungsoo, but you already know.”

Baekhyun turned around and glared at Chanyeol before smiling sweetly at the boy in front of him.

“Ignore Chanyeol, he’s always being a brat.” Baekhyun said. He whipped around and grabbed Luhan by the collar and pulled him forward.

“And this is Luhan. He’s currently going through some deep inner trauma, so excuse him for being so terribly rude.”

“Baekhyunnie~” Luhan whined as he tried to pry Baekhyun’s fingers off his collar. “Get off! I’m already in a bad mood, don’t make it worse.”

“You had quite a reaction back there when you heard Sehun’s name.” Jongin smirked. “Are

you guys like some lifelong enemies that no one else knows about?”

“Oh please.” Luhan scoffed, finally successful in pushing Baekhyun away. “I don’t give a shit about him. I was hoping to ignore that bastard for the rest of my life, actually. But he just suddenly shows up in my homeroom! What the hell!”

Baekhyun could see that Luhan was getting fired up again. He pushed the latter down and gave him a stern gaze.

“Umm...” Kyungsoo spoke up. “I think he can hear you.”

Four heads, excluding Luhan’s,  turned around to look at Sehun at the back. He was currently staring at Luhan’s back. When he caught everyone’s eyes, he frowned and returned to the book on his desk.

“Who cares!” Luhan said, flailing his arms around. “The bastard deserves to know that he’s a bastard!”

Chanyeol snickered and leaned against the window. “Wow, great choice of words.”

Luhan shot him a glare and opened his mouth to retort when Mr. Cho suddenly cleared his throat,

“Now, if you guys are done with the conversation, may I please continue on with my lesson?”

Kyungsoo was the only one who nodded enthusiastically. Jongin immediately took out his earphones from his bag and plugged it in, shuffling through his iPod to choose a song. Chanyeol took out a manga from his bag and hid it behind the desk as he looked for the page he stopped on. Baekhyun dropped his head on his bag and closed his eyes, ready for an hour long nap. Luhan rolled his eyes and averted his gaze to the window.

Yeah, today was definitely not his day.

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Luhan finally tore his eyes away from the window and sighed.

“Chan.” Luhan drawled. Chanyeol stuffed his manga in his bag and turned around. “Wake Baekhyun up.”

Chanyeol whined as he poked Baekhyun in the ribs. However, Baekhyun didn’t budge. Luhan rolled his eyes and walked over, grabbing a fistful of Baekhyun’s hair and pulling it up forcefully. Baekhyun’s eyes immediately opened and he instinctively punched Luhan in the stomach.

“Fuck.” Luhan seethed. “What was that for?!”

“You’re the one who pulled my hair first!” Baekhyun growled back as he busily fixed his hair. “Seriously. No one touches my hair.”

“Psh. Stop being a girl.” Chanyeol snorted and pushed past him, heading towards the door. Luhan ignored Baekhyun’s antics and followed.

The three entered the buzzing cafeteria. The whole school was there, either lining up to get some junk, what the school liked to call food, or heading straight to their usual table.

Baekhyun slumped down in his seat, taking out his kimbap. Luhan and Chanyeol slammed their trays down in front of him, grabbing his attention.

“They call this kimchi soup.” Chanyeol grumbled, taking out his chopsticks and poking at it like it was a bomb. “Looks more like puke, doesn’t it?”

“I heard it’s not even made from regular vegetables and meat.” Luhan muttered back and winced as he stuffed a spoonful of rice, which tasted like plastic, in his mouth. “I wonder if this is actually edible.”

“You know that dude from 2-B? His name was Kim Minseok, I think. Apparently he got food poisoning from this.” Chanyeol said, pointing at his tray. “I heard he almost died.”

Luhan dropped his spoon in disgust and pushed his tray away. He looked at Baekhyun. “You want this? It’s all yours.”

Baekhyun snorted before he popped a kimbap in his mouth. “What? You want to kill me or something? No thanks. There is a reason why I bring my own lunch.”

Chanyeol grinned creepily and moved his seat next to Baekhyun. He slung his arm around Baekhyun’s petite shoulders.

“Baek! I think you’re gaining some fat right here!” Chanyeol exclaimed, patting Baekhyun’s stomach. “I don’t think you should eat all that!  Here, I’ll help you.” Chanyeol reached out and was about to grab a kimbap when Baekhyun slapped his hand away.

“Jerk.” He muttered, shuffling away from Chanyeol’s reach. “I’ll always be thinner than you, fattie. Go away and eat your own trash.”

Luhan chuckled at Chanyeol’s defeated figure when the chair beside him was pulled back. He looked questioningly as Jongin and Kyungsoo sat down.

“You mind?” Jongin asked. “All the other seats are occupied.”

Chanyeol and Luhan opened their mouths to complain when Baekhyun beat them to it. His eyes turned into perfect crescent moons and he beamed at the two newcomers.

“Of course you can sit here.” Baekhyun cooed. “These two don’t mind, do they?” He shot a glare to Luhan and Chanyeol. They gulped and looked down, mumbling a quiet reply.

“Oh. That’s cool.” Jongin smirked. Kyungsoo smiled shyly and muttered a quiet “Thanks.”

“So, Kai.” Baekhyun started. He pushed Chanyeol away when he attempted to steal a kimbap once again. “You and Kyungsoo. You guys close?”

Jongin shrugged and Kyungsoo became stiff, awkwardly eyeing Chanyeol’s untouched plate

“Yeah, I guess.” Jongin muttered, drumming his fingers against the table. “I was the only one who bothered to talk to this kid. He’s too damn shy to say anything first.”

“Oh. How long have you been friends?” Baekhyun questioned, his eyes brightening up as always when he found something interesting. Chanyeol and Luhan both raised their eyebrows but kept quiet.”

“Uhh...” Jongin looked at Kyungsoo, who didn’t peer his eyes off Chanyeol’s tray once. “I think....two years? I don’t exactly remember.”

“Yeah. It’s been two years.” Kyungsoo finally opened his mouth. His voice was barely audible. “He talked to me in class when we were both sophomores.”

“And now you’re both in the same class again!” Baekhyun piped up, clapping his hands together. “Chanyeol and I are childhood friends. Our parents work together, so we basically knew each other since diapers.” Baekhyun pointed at Luhan. “We became friends with Luhan in middle school. We were in seventh grade. Right Luhan?”

Luhan had a strong desire to comment on how idiotic, comedic, and dramatic Baekhyun was back then, refusing to even talk or look at Luhan, while Chanyeol towered over him, smiling and scaring the crap out of Luhan.

“Hi! My name is Luhan!” Luhan said, smiling angelically. The teacher pat him on the back, telling him to go sit behind two boys huddled together and urgently whispering things. Luhan nodded and strutted to the corner, taking his seat.

The two boys broke apart and looked behind. The taller boy of the two grinned widely and waved enthusiastically. Luhan immediately wiped off his angelic smile.

“Ew. What’s wrong with your face.”

The boy froze, his smile disappearing. The other boy beside him narrowed his eyes and glared at him.

“New Boy. Watch your mouth. If you insult Chanyeol, you have to deal with me.”

Luhan scoffed, scanning the petite boy. He was even smaller than himself.

“Wow. You? I’m so scared.” Luhan said with a fake pout. He leaned back proudly as the taller boy faced his back towards him and the smaller one turned red.

“Stop being an ass.” The boy growled. “Chanyeol was just being nice. You’re such a two faced bitch.”

“Thanks.” Luhan said, smirking. “That’s what I do best.”

Luhan had to keep in his laughter as the boy’s name was called out by the teacher. Baekhyun, that was his name, spun around, face flushed in both anger and embarrassment as he was scolded for not listening.

“Fucking Bastard.”

Luhan heard Baekhyun whisper as he passed by him while walking out. Chanyeol slapped Baekhyun’s arm, scolding him quietly for using profanity. Baekhyun simply rolled his eyes.

Luhan shook his head, a grin growing on his face. Yes. He knew he was a two faced bitch. And he was damn proud of it.

Everybody thought that he was an angel. It was all because of his doll face. With his deer like eyes and cute puffy cheeks, everybody expected him to be some kind of saint, smiling all the time and crying whenever he was sad.

But Luhan was nothing like that. He only smiled to please others, to meet everyone’s expectations. It was quite useful too. He never had trouble becoming the teacher’s favorite. Everyone liked him immediately, and he didn’t even have to try. He kept his evil self inside, only showing it to  a few who he found annoying.

So when a guy who was too tall for his own good smiled at him like a pedophile, Luhan didn’t even try. He let his true self show. And when the sassy one next to him retorted, instead of backing away like the rest did, Luhan was surprised.

Perhaps the tiny guy who wore eyeliner at the age of 13 and walked around like he was some kind of diva, with a guy who was at least a head taller than him hanging onto his arm like a pathetic puppy, was worth getting to know.

Luhan walked into the cafeteria, smiling at everyone he saw as he scanned the room for a particular pair of boys. He smirked evilly when he eyed them, currently enthralled in a conversation as they picked at their lunch. He walked towards them and pulled out a chair.

“Hello.” He said casually before unpacking his lunch box. Chanyeol’s, he thought it was the name of the taller boy, jaw dropped open as he gawked at him. Baekhyun glared and

slammed his fist against the table, earning the attention of many students around him.

“YOU!” Baekhyun growled. “What do you think you’re doing? Why are you sitting here?”

Luhan felt the many eyes on him. He let his eyes droop down sadly and he pouted. “Can’t I sit here? Oh, I’m so sorry, was this seat occupied?”

It was time for Baekhyun to be shocked, while Chanyeol never recovered. Baekhyun pointed at him accusingly.

“Are you kidding me? Are you bipolar? You were acting all bitchy 10 minutes ago, and you’re saying I’m sorry now? What’s wrong with you?”

A tear escaped from Luhan’s eyes. Luhan grinned mentally, he wasn’t called an acting prodigy for nothing.

“What are you talking about? If you don’t want me to sit here, then you could’ve just said so. I’ll leave.” Luhan slowly stood up, gathering his things. He heard whispers from the students, completely falling for Luhan’s acting and insulting Baekhyun for being so mean.

Baekhyun looked around in panic and Chanyeol whimpered beside him. Baekhyun’s eyes widened in panic and he reached out towards Luhan.

“Wati!”

Luhan turned around, blinking innocently. Baekhyun shook his head and pointed at the seat.

“You.....you can sit here.”

Luhan grinned brightly and bounced over, sitting down. He grinned widely. “Thank you! Wow, Baekhyun. You’re so nice!”

Baekhyun grimaced but noticed the whispers dying down, some students nodding in approval. He sighed and dropped his head on the table, Chanyeol stroking his hair soothingly.

Luhan looked around, making sure no one was looking. He allowed his angelic side to fall down.

“You look pathetic right now.” He said simply as he took a bite out of his sandwich. Baekhyun’s head snapped up.

“I knew it.” Baekhyun seethed. “I knew it was all a fucking show. You might’ve fooled everybody but you can’t fool me.”

“That’s because I allow it.” Luhan drawled. “Please. You fell for it the first time. If I didn’t insult your puppy dog, you would’ve never known.”

Baekhyun’s face told Luhan that he was ready to throw a punch. Chanyeol, for the first time, showed some anger.

“That’s not true.” Chanyeol shot back. “Baekhyun knew that you weren’t nice from the moment you walked in. I believe his exact words were, ‘Here comes a fucking devil.’”

“Oh, really?” Luhan said, his eyebrows raised. “That’s interesting. You called me a devil. Most will choose angel.”

“It’s obvious.” Baekhyun said. “You just pretend to be all smiley and nice, but you’re actually the exact opposite inside. It doesn’t take a genius to know that.”

“Good job.” Luhan commented. “You realized. You should be proud to know that you’re the first one.”

Baekhyun scanned the cafeteria, making sure nobody was paying attention. He leaned forward, whispering sharply.

“Look. I don’t know what you want. Why did you come here? You don’t like us. We don’t like you. You probably don’t want to be here anymore than we want you here.”

Luhan smirked, shaking his head. “That’s where you’re wrong. You might not like me, but I like you. What you guys want doesn’t matter to me.”

Baekhyun leaned back and looked at Luhan skeptically. “Bullshit. You like us? You said Chanyeol’s face was disgusting and didn’t think twice before insulting us. How could you like us?”

“There’s a difference between disliking someone and insulting them. You can still insult and bash someone you like. That’s how I express my feelings. If I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t be here now would I?”

“Why do you like us?” Chanyeol blurted out, his eyes in a perfect circle. Luhan averted his gaze to him but was immediately creeped out.

“You really have to work on that facial expression of yours.” Luhan said. “It creeps me out.”

“Hey!” Baekhyun yelled. “I said leave Chanyeol alone.”

“I’m just giving advice.” Luhan shrugged. “He doesn’t have any friends other than you, right? There’s obviously a reason.”

Chanyeol looked hurt and he shrunk down in his seat.

“Fuck off.” Baekhyun breathed out. “Go away. You can love us or hate us. I don’t fucking care. Get out of my sight.”

“You’re so protective over your friend. Why are you getting mad instead of him?” Luhan stared at Chanyeol. “Hey, puppy dog. Why do you stick to eyeliner here? Doesn’t he treat you like shit? You deserve so much better. The bastard doesn’t even let you do anythi-”

Luhan was cut off by a strong blow to his face. He fell backwards and hit the floor in a painful crack. He groaned and opened his eyes to see a furious Chanyeol with his fist right where his face was only seconds ago.

“You don’t know shit.” Chanyeol growled. “Don’t talk like that about Baek. You have no right to, asshole.”

Luhan grabbed his throbbing cheek. He smirked before slowly standing up. The whole cafeteria was quiet, silently anticipating Luhan’s next move.

Luhan faced Chanyeol’s enraged face. “Congratulations.”

Chanyeol’s anger turned into shock and confusion. Luhan smiled at him, patting him on the shoulder.

“You finally did something.” Luhan said. “Instead of sitting there like an idiot, letting eyeliner do all the work. Good job, puppy dog.”

Chanyeol let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. He slumped down in his seat.

“Bastard.” He whispered. Luhan smiled and shrugged as he took his own seat.

“I know.” Luhan said. He stared at the boys in front of him before the three cracked a smile.

“Luhan?”

Luhan was brought back to reality by Chanyeol’s voice. He laughed as he was reminded of the memory from 5 years ago.

“Why are you laughing? You look seriously retarded right now.” Baekhyun said as he munched down on his kimbap.

“Nothing, nothing.” Luhan giggled. “I just remembered Chanyeol punching me in the face. By the way, that hurt a lot, puppy dog.”

Chanyeol grinned widely and began laughing when he remembered.

“You were such a brat back then.” Baekhyun snorted. “Not that you’re any better now.”

“I’m hurt, eyeliner.” Luhan retorted. He could feel Jongin and Kyungsoo’s confused eyes on him. “Chanyeol. You still need to work on that creeper face of yours.”

“Hey!” Baekhyun yelled mockingly. “I said leave Chanyeol alone!”

Luhan and Baekhyun shared a look before they burst out in laughter. Chanyeol, who was already hysteric, clapped harder, making his palms go red.

“Kai.” Kyungsoo whispered, leaning towards Jongin. “I think we joined the wrong table.”

Jongin nodded slowly, looking at the three teenagers cracking up.

“They’re all mental.” Jongin muttered back. “God. We’re surrounded by a group of mentally retarded idiots.”

The two slowly stood up. Luhan, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol were too busy laughing to notice. Jongin and Kyungsoo backed away as quietly as possible and walked out of the cafeteria.

Soon after lunch, the three friends separated, each heading for their own class. Baekhyun went to vocal lessons, Chanyeol to chemistry, and Luhan dragged himself to the class he dreaded the most:

Algebra

Luhan shivered at the mere thought of variables and numbers. All of his peers had already moved onto the next few math courses, while Luhan was stuck in Algebra for the third year in a row. His friends had made fun of him, Baekhyun insisting that Luhan’s brain was way too filled with evil thoughts for it to handle any other information, while Chanyeol simply laughed for two hours straight.

Shitty Bastards, Luhan cussed in his mind as he took out his worn Algebra book out of his locker, which had a thick layer of dust on top. He blew it off, causing the students nearby to cough and glare at him. Luhan shot them a stern look before walking down the same path he had been walking in since freshman year.

Luhan paused in front of the room and slid open the door. The class had already begun, and all heads snapped up and stared at him as he walked in and sat down in the one of the empty seats.

The teacher simply sighed, very used to Luhan’s carefree attitude, and turned around to solve the rest of the formula. The freshmens listened carefully as they took notes of everything she was saying.

Innocent little children, Luhan scoffed, Just wait a few years, that eagerness to learn will disappear before you even notice.

Luhan didn’t even bother to open his textbook or grab a pencil. He leaned back in his seat and scanned the room. Of course, appearance wise, Luhan had no problem fitting in. He looked even younger than some of the freshmen here. However, he had to admit he did feel like a loser sitting in a class with overly eager lowerclassmen.

“Hey, you.” Luhan nudged the kid next to him. The kid lifted his head in surprise and seemed scared to have been approached by a upperclassmen, especially one who was well known for his feisty attitude.

“Y-yeah?” He stuttered, dropping his pencil on his notebook. Luhan quickly glanced at the teacher before returning his gaze to the kid.

“I’m gonna need your help, okay? Just go with the flow.”

The kid widened his eyes and before he knew it, Luhan tightened his fist and swiftly punched him in the stomach. The kid grunted and fell forward, his forehead hitting the desk with a loud ‘bang.’ The class, including the teacher, turned around at the loud sound.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” Luhan cried out, jumping out of the seat. The boy lifted his head and opened his mouth to retort but Luhan beat him to it.

“Mrs. Suh!” Luhan called out. “The kid here’s been acting sick all class. I think he needs to go to the nurse. I’ll lead him there, is that okay?”

The teacher looked taken back at Luhan’s sudden gentle smile and worried sounding voice. She nodded and Luhan grabbed the boy’s arm and dragged him out of the class.

The moment they were out of the classroom, Luhan threw the boy across the hallway.

“Don’t say a word about this, got it?” Luhan threatened. “Stay out until class ends and then you can go continue whatever you freshmens do. If anyone catches you, don’t you dare tell them that I made you do this. You probably heard that I specialize in making other people miserable. I can probably make a list on how many students I made go crying to their parents. I made plenty of students move schools before. Unless you want to be the next victim, you will keep your mouth shut and not tell anyone about this, not even your friends. Understood?”

The boy shrunk down and nodded quietly. Luhan gave him one intimidating glare before stuffing his hands in his pocket and heading outside.

Getting out of Algebra class: mission complete, Luhan thought to himself with a satisfied smirk. He turned at a corner and made his way to a large oak tree, a place he had made his

own secret hideout whenever he was pissed at his friends. He sat down and leaned against it, enjoying the soft breeze and the shade the tree provided, protecting him from the scorching sun.

“I was right. You are a bitch.” A sudden voiced called out. Luhan frowned and opened his eyes, dreading what he had guessed as the source of the voice. He groaned out loud.

“What the fuck are you doing here, loner boy?” Luhan growled. Sehun simply raised his eyebrow and pointed at the tree.

“You’re kinda in my spot.”

Luhan scoffed. “Your spot? This tree has been mine since sophomore year. Go find somewhere else to sulk about your inability to get anyone to like you.”

Sehun rolled his eyes, tightening his grip on the book he was holding.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re barely even out here.” Sehun said and slumped down next to Luhan. Luhan frowned and scooted away.

“Go away.”

“No. You go away.”

Luhan let out a frustrated groan. “You’re so annoying! Stop acting immature and get the fuck out of my sight.”

“You’re the one being immature here. You can’t even handle a single criticism.”

Luhan had to check to see if he had heard right. Him? Can’t handle a criticism?

“You called me a two faced bitch, bastard!”

“I don’t go crazy whenever you call me a bastard. Who’s the one being childish now?” Sehun said in a bored tone, flipping through his book. Luhan’s eyes flared in anger and he had to remind himself that violence was not the key.

“By the way, nice way of getting out of class.” Sehun muttered. “You punched a freshman. Is that how you do everything else? Force those ‘under’ you to do all the dirty jobs for you?”

Luhan scoffed, taking out his phone and going through his recent texts.

“Yeah. I figured it was easiest way. It’s not like you do things any better, so keep your mouth shut.”

“You don’t know a thing about me, so I think the one who has to shut up is you.”

That did it for Luhan. He jumped up and flung his fist into the bastard’s face. Sehun fell backwards and grabbed his eye.

“What the fuck?!” Sehun exclaimed, glaring furiously at the older boy in front of him.

“Look. You, Oh Sehun, has finally reached your limit.” Luhan seethed, leaning forwards. His face was only inches away from the younger boy’s. “Nobody leaves unharmed after pissing me off.”

“That’s why everyone calls you a bitch.” Sehun snapped back, leaning forward instead of backing away. Luhan smirked, tilting his head slightly so his mouth was beside Sehun’s ear. Their faces were so close together they could hear each other’s breathing.

“You call me a bitch now.” Luhan breathed. “Let’s see how badass you can pretend to be when I’m done with you.”

Luhan leaned away slowly, meeting eyes with Sehun’s cold orbs. He smiled and patted his cheeks before backing away and leaving the younger and extremely confused boy under the tree.

Baekhyun sighed and put down his music sheet, staring blankly at the wall in front of him. The music class had ended half an hour ago, and everyone had already moved on to their next class. Since Baekhyun had a free period, he decided to take the time to perfect the piece he had planned on performing at the school festival.

At this rate, the closest to the stage he could get was checking the lights and closing the curtains.

Baekhyun lazily drummed his fingers on the stand, humming a tune. He had practiced for hours last night, but for some reason, he just couldn’t perfect it. He grabbed his hair in frustration and attempted to sing it again.

He was on the second verse when his voice cracked. He groaned and quickly scribbled a note on the sheet, mentally scolding himself for not being able to get through one song perfectly.

Suddenly, Baekhyun felt a cold hard touch against his cheeks. He yelped and jumped up, turning around with alarmed eyes.

Chanyeol was laughing hysterically while holding two bottles of iced tea. He handed one to Baekhyun, who grumpily took it while murmuring something about Chanyeol being an idiot. Chanyeol shook it off and took his seat beside Baekhyun.

“So...what you doing?” Chanyeol asked, peering over Baekhyun’s shoulder to glance at the music sheet. Baekhyun sighed and gulped down the drink.

“Been working on this shit forever.” Baekhyun grumbled. “I just can’t get it right! I always make a mistake at the same place and I swear, if I get it wrong one more time, I might strangle myself.”

“Woah, calm down there. I’m sure you’re doing fine.” Chanyeol chuckled and took a drink, ignoring Baekhyun’s glare and frustrated huffs. Baekhyun turned his back towards Chanyeol and picked up the music sheet, trying to sing it one last time, when the door flung open and Luhan stormed in.

“I will kill him!” Luhan screamed, banging his fist on the piano. Chanyeol grimaced at the loud screech and moved out of the way before Luhan could do any damage to him.

“What is it this time? Honestly Luhan, I feel bad for the poor soul who accidentally managed to piss you off.” Baekhyun scolded, irritated about being interrupted in his practice time. Luhan’s eyes flared in anger and he walked over.

“It’s the fucking basta-”

“Oh, him. What did he do?” Chanyeol cut him off while digging out a bag of chips from his jacket.

“What did he do? What did he do?! Oh, I’ll tell you what he did. Oh Sehun managed to call me a two faced bitch and laugh in my face.”

“We call you a two faced bitch all the time.” Baekhyun commented while drawing circles on his music sheet, not interested in the conversation. Luhan didn’t seem to notice this and simply flailed his arms around while pacing around the room.

“The idiot didn’t stop there. Of course he didn’t. Oh Sehun can’t keep his fucking mouth shut for a second. He called me immature. He said I couldn’t handle a criticism. Who the fuck does he think he is? Nobody, and I repeat, nobody handles criticisms better than I do. I let people call me a bitch and a bastard every single day and what do I do? I laugh it off. How dare he say that I’m immature?!”

“Oh my god, Luhan.” Baekhyun groaned, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. Chanyeol chuckled but immediately shut up at the look Luhan gave him.

“You’re 17. Grow up. People called you much worse than that before. I don’t even know why you’re getting so worked up about this. Just ignore him. If you don’t talk to him, he won’t talk to you either.”

“For your information, I was perfectly nice to him when I first talked to him. He insulted me first, he’s the one bothering the crap out of me, he’s the idiot, and I’m honestly the innocent one here!”

Baekhyun snorted and Chanyeol bursted out in laughter. Luhan narrowed his eyes and put his hands on his hips, glaring at his two friends.

“You? Innocent? You gotta be kidding me.” Chanyeol laughed. Baekhyun rolled his eyes and gave Luhan a look.

“Look, Luhan. I believe we need to have a talk. You are not innocent. In no way, in no time, in no situation, will you be innocent. Believe me. I’ve known you long enough.”

Luhan huffed and spun around in his heels.

“I guess I’ll just have to live up to my reputation then. You want evil? I’ll show you evil.” Luhan sneered and slammed the door shut.

Baekhyun grinned widely when Luhan stomped out. Chanyeol ceased laughing and offered him some chips, which he took willingly.

“I kinda feel bad for the Sehun guy.” Chanyeol mumbled between chews. “Luhan’s extremely pissed. I don’t think I’ve seen him this mad since the guy in 3-A accidentally spilled his lunch on him last year.”

“Let’s just hope there won’t be any visits to the emergency room this year.” Baekhyun said. He checked the time and stood up, gathering his stuff. Chanyeol grunted and hid his chips in his bag.

“What class do you have next?” Baekhyun asked as they stepped outside the music room. Chanyeol threw the cans away and faced Baekhyun.

“Umm...I think Philosophy? You?”

“Me too! They switched my schedule a bit. Let’s go then!”

Chanyeol grinned widely and grabbed Baekhyun’s arm, pulling him enthusiastically down the hall way. Baekhyun yelled at him to stop and slapped his hand away, but a smile had already found its way onto his face.  

 

►♦►

 

“Jongin!”

Jongin turned around at the familiar voice. His hard face softened a bit when he saw Kyungsoo run up to him, his hands struggling to hold the pile of books. Jongin stepped up and took a few before beginning to walk beside him.

“So...how was class?” Kyungsoo inquired in his small voice. Jongin shrugged as an answer

and looked at the shorter voice. Kyungsoo bit his lip and shuffled the books he was holding.

“Calculus was good. Learned a lot of interesting things today.”

Jongin snorted and Kyungsoo gave him a pointed look.

“Really. Jongin. You should at least try.”

Jongin shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m better at math than that Luhan guy. He’s been taking the same math course for three years in a row.”

Kyungsoo leaned forward and whispered in a hushed tone. “You can’t compare yourself to Luhan. I heard he’s an idiot when it comes to math. Well, actually, I heard he’s an all around idiot when it comes to school. Don’t com-”

Kyungsoo froze mid talk. Jongin cocked an eyebrow and looked past Kyungsoo’s head to see a furious looking Luhan storm by, who was busily muttering incoherent things to himself. Jongin smirked and returned his gaze to Kyungsoo’s panicked face.

“Do you think he heard?!” Kyungsoo said urgently, grabbing Jongin’s arm and shaking it. Jongin shrugged again much to Kyungsoo’s dismay

“I’m dead.” Kyungsoo wailed. “I’m so fucking dead.”

“Why are you so afraid of him anyway?” Jongin asked as they took their respective seats in class. Their schedules were basically identical for two years in a row, which gave the two very different in personality-wise people to become friends.

“Have you ever heard about the things he’d done?” Kyungsoo answered, looking around cautiously to make sure there was no Luhan. “He has this aura about him that scares the crap out of me. He looks so nice and angelic, but you heard what comes out from his mouth. He’s pure terror. So many people fell for his angelic looks and didn’t know what was coming.”

Jongin scoffed while digging through his bag, looking for his iPod and Manga necessary for class. Kyungsoo noticed Jongin’s lack of interest and backed away, taking out his own materials needed for class.

Kyungsoo heard a small screech behind him and turned around to see Oh Sehun pulling a chair and taking a seat. His eyes went even larger than before, and Sehun who finally tore his eyes away from the desk looked straight into Kyungsoo’s eyes.

Kyungsoo turned bright red and awkwardly fell back into his seat. Sehun cocked an eyebrow and began to take out a book from his bag while maintaining the eye contact. Jongin looked to the left to see a very surprised Kyungsoo half out of his chair and staring at something behind him. Jongin turned his head to see Sehun’s bored expression.

“Oh. It’s you.” Jongin said as he helped Kyungsoo up. Sehun nodded stiffly and averted his

gaze to Jongin.

“Didn’t know you were in this class. I guess the school made a lot of changes, huh?” Jongin attempted to start a conversation while Kyungsoo looked between the two with huge alarmed eyes. Jongin tried to ignore it because he knew he wouldn’t be able to resist laughing.

“Sure.” Sehun said. Jongin opened his mouth but closed it when he figured out there wasn’t much to say. He simply turned around, pulling Kyungsoo with him, and returned to his manga. Kyungsoo sat still, staring at the wall across the classroom, before finally snapping out of the shock and poking Jongin’s hips.

“Jong! I think I just thought of an ingenious way to get back at Luhan.”

Jongin sighed and stared at his friend. “Why would you want to get back at Luhan? He didn’t do anything to you.”

Kyungsoo shrugged happily and drummed his pencil against his notebook. “He tortured tons of people before. Why don’t we give him a taste of his own medicine?”

Jongin narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. “Exactly what are you planning to do, Mr. Do?”

Kyungsoo smirked, and Jongin was taken back at seeing such an unusual expression on Kyungsoo’s face. Smirking was his thing, not Kyungsoo’s. Kyungsoo smiled smugly and whispered quietly.

“First, we need to find Baekhyun and Chanyeol.”

And that’s how Jongin knew Kyungsoo smirking could not end well.

School had ended a long time ago, and the building was almost empty. The hallways were dim; only a few flickering lights were on. The library was occupied by about half a dozen studious students who actually bothered about their grades enough to stay after school.

There was one room at the very end of the hallway. It was the music room, filled with piles of music sheets, stands popped up against each other, and rows and rows of chairs filling the back half of the room. Unlike the rest of the room in the school, this room was bright and filled with chatters.

“That’s ridiculous!”

“It’s a perfect plan, actually.”

“Do you want us to get killed?”

“I’m so for it! Payback time!”

Four boys were sitting on the ground in a circle, talking about something with strong passion. Two boys were arguing with the other two, mouths running like motors and eyes literally sparking fire.

“No! I’m not taking part in this and it’s final!” Jongin grunted, banging his fist on the ground. Baekhyun, who was sitting diagonally from him, snorted and crossed his arms.

“Excuse me, but it was your best friend who came up with the idea.”

Jongin turned his head, glaring at Kyungsoo who smiled and shrugged innocently.

“It’s a good idea! I mean, I don’t know about you Jong, but why are you so against it Chanyeol?”

Chanyeol frowned and shook his head. “I am not risking my life. I’m only seventeen! I don’t want to die!”

Baekhyun let out a high pitched squeak and fell backwards, clutching his stomach as he roared in laughter. Kyungsoo sighed and Jongin’s expression didn’t change a bit.

“Chanyeol.” Kyungsoo said. “You are not going to die.”

“You don’t know about that! This is Luhan we’re talking about. Trust me, you do not mess with Luhan unless you want to die.”

Baekhyun sat straight up, although his mouth was stretched in a grin. He turned to his best friend and hit him on the head.

“Don’t be an idiot! Luhan’s harmless.”

Three heads turned to him and Baekhyun bit his lips.

“Umm...Luhan’s harmless when it comes to us.”

Chanyeol opened his mouth to protest but Baekhyun beat him to it, sending him his infamous glare. Chanyeol shrunk down and pouted, resting his hand on his palm.

“So, it’s all decided!” Baekhyun clapped his hands together, earning a smile from Kyungsoo and a groan from Chanyeol. Jongin merely scowled.

“No way.” Jongin spat out, a little more harshly than he had intended to.

“And why not?” Baekhyun retorted, definitely not any gentler than Jongin. Baekhyun wasn’t the type to back down.

“Because it’s stupid.” Jongin said as if it was the most obvious reason in the world. “I don’t want to waste my time.”

“Well Kim Jongin you’ll just have to shut the fuck up and do it be-”

“Jong.” Kyungsoo interrupted Baekhyun, shocking both him and Jongin. Jongin stared at him and Baekhyun closed his mouth grumpily.

“Come on. Just do it, okay? It’ll be fun!” Kyungsoo piped up, his face brightening up as he looked up at the taller boy. Jongin remained hesitant for a second, debating on what to do, when Baekhyun made the decision for him.

“Okay then! With all four of us in, Operation Turn Luhan Into an Actual Angel, aka TLIAA has officially begun!”

Flashback (A few hours ago)

Right when the bell rang, signaling the end of class and the end of one horrendous day of school, Kyungsoo, who was usually the last one out of class, jumped out of his seat, surprising Jongin.

“What the-” Jongin exclaimed while he bent down, picking up the iPod he had dropped on accident. He straightened up and slung his bag over his shoulders. He turned around to see Kyungsoo’s excited face.

“Let’s go!” Kyungsoo whispered, although Jongin was sure everyone around him could hear. Kyungsoo grabbed Jongin’s arm and pulled him out of class, making his classmates stare at Kyungsoo’s unusual behavior. Even the teacher seemed alarmed at her best student’s sudden change of attitude.

“What.are.you.doing.” Jongin asked while he was literally pulled through the mob of students. Kyungsoo had his eyes on one classroom.

“We’re going to find Baekhyun and Chanyeol of course!” Kyungsoo exclaimed. Jongin stopped abruptly, pulling Kyungsoo back and making him bump into the taller boy’s chest.

“Wait. What?” Jongin muttered. “You met them today for the first time! Were you actually seriously about the whole Luhan revenge thing?!”

“Of course I was!” Kyungsoo exclaimed and pushed himself off Jongin, smiling sheepishly at him. Jongin sighed and Kyungsoo took that as a yes, once again pulling him through the hallway. He halted in front of a door and pulled it open, revealing a nearly empty classroom with only a few students left, all heading towards the door to go out. Kyungsoo’s eyes

brightened when he spotted the two boys he was looking for.

“Baekhyun! Chanyeol!”

Both of the boys spun around from their seats, looking surprised at the sudden visitor. Baekhyun quickly put on a charming smile and walked up to them while Chanyeol trailed behind him.

“Hey! What’s up?” Baekhyun asked cheerfully. Jongin shrugged boredly and stared at his friend, allowing him to do all the talking.

“I was wondering...if...I could ask you guys something about Luhan...” Kyungsoo asked timidly. Baekhyun’s smile was gone in seconds and he frowned, while Chanyeol finally tore his eyes away from the wall and stared at the two.

“What do you want to know about that shitty bastard?” Baekhyun asked. Despite his vulgar words, both Kyungsoo and Jongin could hear the curiosity and worry behind his voice.

“Actually. It’s not something I have to ask you.” Kyungsoo continued. Jongin sighed as he sensed that Kyungsoo’s shyness was beginning to return full blast. He decided to step in like a true best friend.

“He has a plan to get back at that shitty bastard of yours.”

Kyungsoo’s jaw dropped open and he whipped around, gawking at Jongin who stood there with an expressionless face. Baekhyun blinked and Chanyeol began to chuckle.

“Get back? What he do to you?” Chanyeol asked. “I didn’t know you were once a victim of Luhan’s tantrums.”

“I’m not!”Kyungsoo screamed, waving his hands in the air furiously. “I just thought of a good idea to give him a taste of his own medicine! You know, since everyone is scared shitless of him....yeah...sorry...I guess you don’t want to torture your own best friend, huh? I was stupid. Sorry.”

Jongin let out a frustrated groan and wanted to punch Kyungsoo for being so shy.

Baekhyun stared at Kyungsoo for a while before bursting out in laughter. He pointed at the boy while slapping Chanyeol’s arm.

“Are you kidding me?! We don’t want to torture Luhan? Please, out of everyone in this earth, we are the ones who are most hungry for revenge.” Baekhyun giggled. Kyungsoo stared at him before cracking a smile.

“So, you’re in?” Kyungsoo asked, suddenly overly eager. Baekhyun grinned widely and cocked his head.

“Sure. Let’s hear that plan of yours, shall we?” 

►♦►

The four boys entered the music room after making sure the janitor was gone. Baekhyun, who had an extra key given to him by the music teacher, slid open the door and walked in. They turned around and sat in a circle.

“What’s the genius idea of yours?” Chanyeol asked while he picked out a bag of chips and ripped it open. He offered it to everyone, and Jongin and Baekhyun both eagerly took a handful.

“It might sound stupid. It also might not work. It’s really a stupid idea, I guess. I didn’t really think it through and i-”

“Kyungsoo. Shut up and please just tell us the idea.” Jongin said while munching down on a chip. Kyungsoo turned red and nodded.

“The point of the plan is to turn Luhan nicer.” Kyungsoo said. Baekhyun snorted.

“So we’re trying to change the devil into an angel?” Chanyeol asked and fished out another bag of chips.

“Yeah, basically. So, what’s the one thing that Luhan hates so dearly these days?”

Baekhyun and Chanyeol turned their heads and looked at each other.

“I know! Children!” Chanyeol shouted, raising his hand straight up into the air. Kyungsoo gaped at him.

“Luhan hates children?!”

Chanyeol grinned and nodded. “He hates all things cute and innocent. By the way, that includes puppies and kittens.”

While Kyungsoo was coping with the momentary shock, Jongin bit his lip and stared at the floor in hard concentration.

“Is it....Mr. Cho? Doesn’t Luhan hate that dude?”

Baekhyun sighed and shook his head. “No, it’s probably not him. Luhan’s hate scale goes to about 5,000, and Mr.Cho is probably in the 3,000s. We need to find something, or someone, worse.”

Kyungsoo looked at the three guys around him. “Come on. It’s not that hard. It’s so freaking obvious!”

Chanyeol ran his hands through his hair, listing the things that Luhan hated. Baekhyun tapped his chin and closed his eyes, focusing on his own list, while Jongin who quickly got bored of the conversation began zoning out.

Suddenly, Baekhyun’s eyes snapped open and his mouth stretched into an evil grin.

“Oh, Kyungsoo, you’re so evil.”

Kyungsoo chuckled. “Am I? It is a good idea, isn’t it?

Baekhyun nodded slowly and Chanyeol looked at the two in confusion.

“What the heck are you two talking about?” He looked at Jongin for help, but he looked as confused as himself.

“I’m proud of you. I didn’t know you had it in you.” Baekhyun said smugly, patting Kyungsoo’s head. Kyungsoo smiled and looked at the two lost boys.

“You guys don’t get it, do you?”

Jongin and Chanyeol both shook their head. Baekhyun sighed and whispered ‘thick heads’ under his breath, earning a glare from both boys.

“Kyung sweetie here has a wonderful plan.” Baekhyun began, now talking instead of Kyungsoo since he was aware of the plan. “A genius one. It is one to ensure Luhan’s insanity.”

“Luhan? Insane? I don’t know, Baek. We can’t handle a sane Luhan. I think an insane one might scare everyone away.”

“He’s already scaring everybody away. I don’t think it’ll do much damage anyway.”

Chanyeol stayed silent and nudged Baekhyun to continue.

“You know how Luhan has..err..a habit of getting rid of everyone he hates?” Baekhyun asked, scratching the back of his head as he tried to come up with the right words. Chanyeol snorted and Jongin simply stared.

“So. I believe it’s time we show Luhan that he has to cooperate with other people, no matter how much he might hate them.”

“Luhan? Cooperate? I didn’t know those two words could be used in the same sentence.”

Baekhyun grinned. Kyungsoo began to giggle, but it sounded strangely evil to Jongin and Chanyeol’s ears.

“That’s our plan. Force Oh Sehun and Xi Luhan to cooperate.”

The moment those words came out of Baekhyun’s mouth, somewhere miles away at a bright blue painted room, Luhan shivered and covered his own body with his blanket.

“Gosh, it’s summer and it’s fucking cold.”

Suddenly, the door to his room swung open and his mother walked in. She scanned the room before finally looking at Luhan.

“It’s mid summer, and you have a blanket on? Are you insane?”

Luhan scoffed and wrapped the blanket tighter around himself.

“It’s cold. It’s not my fault you gave birth to a son with a low tolerance to cold.”

Luhan’s mother smirked and grabbed the pile of Luhan’s dirty clothes. “Maybe it’s because something bad is going to happen to you.”

Luhan shook his head and returned his gaze to his computer. He plugged in his earphones and restarted the game.

“That’s ridiculous. The only bad thing happening will be me torturing that kid Sehun.”

Luhan’s mother shrugged and closed the door behind her. Luhan quickly paused the game and stared at the door.

He couldn’t help but cringe at the lingering feeling in his chest, as if someone was planning something horrible against him.

And the sad thing was Luhan was always right.

 

Luhan woke up early the next day. He threw the blankets off and stared out the window, watching as his neighbor came out of her house to walk her dog. Luhan praised himself for waking up so early as he stood up and quickly dressed for school.

“LUHAN!”

Luhan winced when he heard a shout from downstairs. He was about to answer when he was cut off.

“GET OUT OF BED AND GET READY FOR SCHOOL!”

Luhan slammed open the door and poked his head down.

“I’M ALREADY AWAKE! CAN’T YOU WAIT FOR 5 SECONDS BEFORE SCREAMING AT ME?”

A pregnant pause followed. Luhan grumpily grabbed his bag and stomped downstairs. He was met with his mother’s shocked face and no sign of his father.

“You’re actually awake?” His mother gawked. “You mean, I didn’t have to go all the way up there and drag your body away from the bed?”

Luhan scoffed and sat down in his seat. After about 10 minutes, Luhan, who finally reached the end of his patience, started swinging his legs in boredom and tapped his chopsticks against the table. His mother sent him an irritated glare, but he shrugged it off and started to whistle a tune.

His mother suddenly slammed down the spoon she was stirring the soup with and whipped around.

“You woke up early so you could bother me first thing in the morning, didn’t you?”

Luhan gave her a cheeky grin and his mother groaned. He heard a loud thump beside him, and he watched his father stumble into the kitchen, looking like a complete mess.

“Good morning.” Luhan’s father mumbled as he sat down in his chair. He stared at the table for a moment, completely spacing out, before his head snapped up and he stared at Luhan in awe.

“What are you doing here?!” He exclaimed, pointing his finger at his son accusingly.

Luhan laughed cynically.

“Thanks dad. I feel so loved. No need to make it so obvious that you want to see my face this early.”

Luhan’s dad pouted, and it wanted to make Luhan throw up. Instead, he just made a gagging sound and looked away.

“Don’t be so mean, son.” Luhan’s dad sighed, but a wide grin was stretched onto his face. Luhan looked at him in disgust and quickly picked up his bag.

“Mom, don’t bother with my food. I think I’m going to pick up something on my way to

school.” He said briefly before sticking out his tongue at his dad. He was on the way to the front door when he heard a shout from the kitchen.

“Luhan! What is wrong with you? Are you sick, sweetie? Why are you going to school so early?” Luhan’s mom called out, looking genuinely worried. Luhans snorted and waved lazily before swinging his bag over his shoulder. He smiled at his parents and shut the door behind him.

“Ugh.”

Luhan groaned out and closed his eyes for a minute. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again.

He shut them in the speed of lightning. Literally.

“Go away.” He muttered as walked away. He could hear two pairs of feet scurrying after him.

“Good morning!” Luhan heard a low voice pipe up. It was such a weird mixture: a low voice that could make T.O.P go run for his money sound so enthusiastic.

“Shut up Chanyeol.” Luhan snapped back. He wasn’t in a good mood. Ever since last night, he felt something big and dangerous creep up behind him. He didn’t know what, and he didn’t want to know.

Luhan was content with his life, thank you very much.

Well, other than a certain boy with a thick lisp who couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

Now Luhan was getting pissed off.

Chanyeol opened his mouth again and Luhan whipped around, giving him a full out glare. He heard Baekhyun snicker beside him.

“Can’t you guys go anywhere without each other? You guys are like some pathetic losers who don’t have any other friends.”

Baekhyun, who definitely wasn’t one to sit still and be insulted at, put his hands on his hips as he huffed at Luhan.

“What’s your problem? Don’t be such a bitch Luhan. Well, actually, you always are.”

Chanyeol had an amused look on his face as he looked at the two pissed off boys like it was a show. He was about to take out a bag of chips to munch at when Baekhyun suddenly turned to him and snatched it out of his hand.

“You! Stop eating or you’re going to become a fat pig! Doesn’t help that you’re already a freaking giant! Do you know how many calories this is? Look at this! Who in the world

carries around 5 fucking bag of chips everywhere they go?!” Baekhyun scolded and threw the bag over his head. Luhan caught it and popped open the bag. He slowly walked away from his friends.

“Uhh...Baek?”

“Look at yourself! Do you know how bad chips are for your health?! I know you’re in the basketball team Chanyeol, but you can’t eat instant food every single day! Unless you want me to personally write out a dietary plan for you, keep away from the goddamn food!”

“Baekhyun.”

“I’m not your mom, Yeol. Why can’t you take care of yourself? I’m fucking sick of making sure you don’t get in trouble or do something stupid! You seriously need to cut down or I swear I’ll-”

“Oh my fucking god, BYUN BAEKHYUN!”

Baekhyun paused mid speech and gawked at Chanyeol for interrupting his long rant. Chanyeol sighed and rubbed his forehead before pointing at something past Baekhyun’s head.

“Luhan’s running away.”

Baekhyun gasped and spun around, running as fast as his little legs could carry him.

“XI LUHAN! STOP RIGHT THERE YOU FUCKING BASTARD. WE’RE NOT DONE HERE!”

Chanyeol pouted and followed his furious friend.

“He’s running away with my chips. Thanks a lot, Baek.”

The two friends boarded the bus. Luhan was already seated on the back, happily emptying the bag of chips. Chanyeol had to blink to keep the tears in and Baekhyun stomped over to him and took a seat.

Chanyeol sighed and sat down as far away from the two, mentally preparing himself for a long screaming fight they were sure to have.

Sometimes, Chanyeol genuinely wondered what made him friends with such short tempered, vicious, cruel, and evil boys named Byun Baekhyun and Xi Luhan.

The only reason Chanyeol could stand Luhan was because of Baekhyun. If he wasn’t already used to Baekhyun constantly insulting and nagging him, slashing out at anyone daring to criticize him, he was sure he wouldn’t be able to handle Luhan, who was about 100 times worse than Baekhyun.

“Baek? What are you doing?” Chanyeol asked, slurping his ice cream as he ran up to his

friend. He stood behind his smaller friend awkwardly and tapped his shoulder.

“Not now Chan.” Baek muttered, but Chanyeol definitely heard the dangerous edge to his voice. He gulped and took a step backward, accidently dropping his ice cream.

“Ba-Baek?” He whispered and finally saw what Baekhyun was glaring at. Two boys, who was at least a head taller than both of them, walked towards Baekhyun with a menacing sneer.

“Who’s this? Your boyfriend?” One of the boys spat out, earning a roar of laughter from the other. Chanyeol whimpered and tried to walk away, but noticed that Baekhyun wasn’t moving.

“Shut up.” Baekhyun said so calmly, it scared Chanyeol. “He’s my friend. If you got a problem with him, you deal with me.”

“That’s disgusting. You’re such a fag.” The other boy said and took a step forward. Chanyeol squeaked and tried to pull Baekhyun back, but he didn’t move an inch.

“Stop being such immature losers.” Baekhyun crossed his arms and although he did have to look up to meet the eyes of the older boy, he did it in a way that made him look confident and threatening.

“Don’t look at me like that, bastard!” The guy growled and kicked Baekhyun in the ribs. Chanyeol’s eyes widened as he saw Baekhyun fall helplessly on the ground.

“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol cried out and scrambled to his friend. He helped Baekhyun up and quickly scanned him to make sure he wasn’t bleeding. Baekhyun sent him a grateful look before returning his gaze to the hysterical boys.

“Resorting to violence.” Baekhyun muttered. “Great idea. Because that’s going to get you somewhere.”

Chanyeol suddenly felt the urge to speak up. He wasn’t going to stand still after seeing his friend knocked over.

“Yeah! Did you know Baekhyun’s parents are both police officers? They can get you in jail!”

Baekhyun cocked an eyebrow at him. Chanyeol shot him a sly smile before looking at the two boys.

“You guys are in so much trouble now. Baekhyun’s parents are overprotective, trust me, I know. Even leave a scratch on precious Baek’s body and you guys are screwed.”

Baekhyun turned bright red. Chanyeol grinned as he looked at the boys go pale before scurrying away, mumbling apologies. Chanyeol turned to face his friend.

“I did good, didn’t I?”

“Good?! You made me sound like a princess!”

Chanyeol laughed and grinned good naturedly.

“But you are a princess, Baek.”

Baekhyun turned even redder. He huffed and stomped his foot on the ground.

“I am not! I’m a manly guy! Don’t call me a girl!”

“Come on Baek. You prefer playing with your mom’s eyeliner than playing Play Station 3 with me. I doubt that’s called ‘manly.’”

“Shut up!” Baekhyun yelled and stormed away. Chanyeol laughed but froze when he suddenly remembered something.

“YAH! BYUN BAEKHYUN! I DROPPED MY ICE CREAM BECAUSE OF YOU! BUY ME ANOTHER ONE!”

Chanyeol turned around and sighed once more. Baekhyun and Luhan were up to each other’s faces, spewing incoherent words at each other with eyes that looked almost unhuman. He closed his eyes and leaned on the window.

This was going to be one hell of a long ride.

 

►♦►

Finally. The three managed to make it to school without Baekhyun or Luhan ripping the other’s throat out. Chanyeol let out a breath of relief and squeezed himself between the two, making both of them point their glares at the taller boy.

If looks could kill, Chanyeol would be already decomposed and used as food for the fungi. He scanned the field for anyone he might be able to tag along with. Anyone but the two he was with right now.

His eyes immediately lightened up when he spotted Kyungsoo and Jongin walking towards the school.

“Bye guys!” He sang, finally finding hope in his life, as he ran towards the two guys who he was going to claim as new best friends. Luhan and Baekhyun stood there as they watched Chanyeol run away from them a little too enthusiastically.

“Were...we...just...ditched?” Baekhyun asked, his eyes widening as he saw Chanyeol throw his arms around Jongin and Kyungsoo, grinning from corner to corner. Kyungsoo squirmed

and shuddered when he caught sight of Chanyeol’s creepy smile, while Jongin frowned and tried his best to break away from Chanyeol’s tight group on his shoulder.

“I think Chanyeol’s scaring them.” Luhan said. “Should we help them?

Baekhyun turned his face to Luhan and met eyes with him. He smirked, already forgetting about the argument they had minutes ago. Truth is, he didn’t even know what they were fighting about.

“Nah.” Baekhyun said, linking arms with Luhan and walking towards the school. “Let them solve their own problems.”

Luhan smirked, mimicking Baekhyun’s expression, and turned around in time to meet Kyungsoo’s desperate eyes calling for help as he was dragged away by Chanyeol. Jongin’s mouth was moving aggressively, so Luhan guessed he was currently displaying a creative mixture of curses. Luhan smiled at Kyungsoo before looking away.

“Let’s go.” Luhan said, and couldn’t help but burst out laughing at Jongin and Kyungsoo’s scream of agony and Chanyeol’s derpy laugh.

 

Luhan strolled down the hallway, whistling a tune he heard on the radio that morning. He grinned inwardly as the students automatically shuffled out of his way, looking at him warily. He put on his usual bitch face, making sure to glare at a couple of students to do the trick.

“Luhan.” Baekhyun grumbled irritatedly next to him. “You’re going to scare the whole student population away.”

Luhan looked at him and smirked. “Exactly my point.”

Baekhyun scoffed and returned his gaze to the stack of music sheets in his hands. Honestly speaking, Luhan didn’t understand why Baekhyun was so obsessed with music. Sure, he had a voice which everyone liked to call ‘angelic’ ( Not that Luhan agreed), but Luhan was more impressed at the fact that a guy who was as short tempered and easily distracted as Baekhyun could concentrate on a sheet of paper for so long.

However, today, Baekhyun seemed a little off. He furrowed his eyebrows a little more than usual, and he was mumbling something under his breath.

“Stop doing that.” Luhan said. Baekhyun lifted his head and looked at Luhan questioningly.

“Stop what?”

“Mumbling to yourself. It’s creeping me out. Almost as much as Chanyeol’s smile.”

Baekhyun frowned and gave a strong kick to Luhan’s leg. He stormed off, leaving Luhan in

the dust.

“Ow, the fuck!” Luhan growled. He caught a few students giggling as they passed him. He shot them a furious glare, and they ran off.

“Do you guys have to fight all the fucking time? It’s not even funny any more.”

Luhan turned around and saw Jongin standing behind him, towering down at him. Luhan stood straight up.

“We’re not doing it for your entertainment, but thanks anyway.”

Jongin sighed. A few students stopped around them, obviously interested in the glaring competition between two of the bitchiest students in school.

Jongin and Luhan snapped in unison. “Fuck off.”

The students were startled, thinking the insult was directed towards them, but in reality, Luhan and Jongin had no interest in anyone other than each other.

“Control your best friend, Xi Luhan. I swear, if you make him come after me with that creepy pedo smile of his, I will personally make it my life goal to hunt you down and murder you in the most painful way possible.”

Luhan smirked.

“I’ve heard worse. Got anything else?”

Jongin scowled, not impressed.

“I’m serious, doll boy. Get him to stay away from us.”

“Us?”

Jongin sighed and ran a hand through his hand. “Kyungsoo’s shaking in fear in the bathroom right now. I think Chanyeol caused some unerasable trauma in his brain. He keeps muttering something about crack and eggs.”

Luhan burst out laughing. “What? I think Kyungsoo’s just hungry. Go crack some eggs and make an omelette for him.”

Jongin opened his mouth to retort when a loud holler rang through the hallway. Luhan winced and Jongin nodded towards the source of the voice.

“I think eyeliner boy’s looking for you. Go before he comes stalking after me this time.”

Jongin shuddered at the mere thought of Baekhyun trailing beside him and Kyungsoo, going on and on about the current gossips in school and cooing about how Kyungsoo was the most adorable human being in the planet. Jongin concluded that Baekhyun may be, just may be, worse than Chanyeol.

“XI LUHAN!”

Luhan nodded his head to Jongin as a short goodbye and turned on his heels, stomping towards the classroom. He slammed open the door and glared at Baekhyun, who had his mouth half open, ready to shout once again.

“Will you shut up?!” Luhan yelled, ignoring the gaping looks his classmates were giving him and Baekhyun.

Baekhyun pouted and blinked at him in fake innocence.

“You are so mean, Luhannie.”

Luhan had to literally stop himself from gagging in disgust. He then noticed that Chanyeol was already seated in his seat, looking amused at his two best friends. Luhan made sure to catch his eyes and quickly flipped his middle finger before going to his seat.

Luhan made it part of his daily schedule to glare at the boy sitting behind him. Although Sehun didn’t remove his eyes from his book once, Luhan liked to believe that he at least felt it.

The door opened, revealing Jongin. He turned around and grabbed something behind him. Baekhyun and Chanyeol looked at him in interest as Jongin had to literally drag Kyungsoo to his seat.

“Hey Kyungsoo!” Chanyeol piped up. Kyungsoo’s abnormally large eyes went even larger, if that was even possible. Kyungsoo squeaked and hid his head in his bag.

Baekhyun sighed and pulled Chanyeol up. He switched seats with him and glared at his tall best friend for scaring such a innocent little kid.

“Chanyeol. I think you really damaged him this time.”

Chanyeol shrugged and faced Jongin, only to be met with his glare.

“What did I do?!” Chanyeol exclaimed. Luhan took the courtesy to answer his question.

“It’s your face!” Luhan grinned and laughed. Baekhyun stared at him like Luhan had lost it and Chanyeol simply pouted.

Baekhyun sighed and pulled a terrified Kyungsoo up. Kyungsoo whimpered and looked at anywhere but Chanyeol.

“Could you be a little quiet up there? I’m trying to read.”

Luhan scowled at the familiar low voice with a thick lisp. He whipped around and glared at the boy behind him.

“No, I can’t. And frankly, I don’t care either.

Sehun stared blankly at Luhan before sighing and looking back at his book. Luhan continued to glare at him.

Baekhyun grinned behind him and quickly shot a look to Kyungsoo, Jongin and Chanyeol. Chanyeol sighed and Jongin nodded. Kyungsoo, who seemed to regain a bit of his sanity, broke a smile.

“Time to begin our plan, boys.”

►♦► 

The teacher, who finally decided to show up for class, made his way up to the board. He quickly called roll and after the class representative reminded the class about a festival coming up (earning the groan from nearly all of the students), the teacher faced the student with a pleasant smile which troubled all the students.

“Class.” Mr. Cho started. “I have some excellent news today.”

Everyone knew the teacher’s definition of excellent news was their definition of a nightmare.

Mr. Cho frowned at the lack of response from the students, but decided to let it go.

“We’re changing seats!”

Mr.Cho exclaimed with a enthusiastic tone, but the whole class gawked at him for a while before busting into complaints in unison.

“Are you fucking serious?!”

“I am not going to move away from my Kibum!”

“You make me move, you’re dead mister.”

“No way!”

Mr. Cho sighed and lifted up his heavy attendance book. He slammed it down on his desk, making a large sound that immediately hushed all the students.

“Okay, now that you guys finally decided to shut up, I’ll tell you who you’ll be sitting next to for the next semester.” He looked at the class before looking down at the piece of paper in his hands. “Also, this is completely random, so I do not want to hear any whining about this being unfair.”

Luhan grumbled and lazily looked around the class, ruling out the kids he absolutely refused to sit next to. Baekhyun and Chanyeol were in some sort of hushed conversation and Jongin was busy comforting a terrified Kyungsoo.

“First row, I’ll start with the far left of the classroom.”

Mr. Cho cleared his throat and began reading off the list. Cheers and sobs could be heard throughout the room.

“Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. First row middle.”

Baekhyun gasped and grabbed Chanyeol’s arm. Kyungsoo was already tearing up, and Jongin was awkwardly patting his crying friend in the back.

It seemed like Chanyeol was the only happy one with the arrangement.

“Let’s go Kyungsoo!” He exclaimed and grabbed Kyungsoo’s bag, forcing him out of his seat and into his new one. Baekhyun gawked as his best friend walked away and Jongin glared at the two.

“Jongin and Baekhyun, second row first column.”

Jongin growled and stomped his way across the room. Baekhyun made sure to give Chanyeol a death glare before reluctantly taking his seat next to Jongin.

Luhan began to feel a little uneasy. All the best choices were gone and he desperately looked around for anyone that he might be willing to be stuck with.

Donghae! He’s alright. I hope h-

“Donghae and Tiffany, last row middle.”

Mr. Cho had to literally tear Donghae off Eunhyuk to make him move. Luhan froze when he realized the only remaining pair.

Mr. Cho looked at the paper and smirked. He glanced at Luhan’s direction before slowly reading off the paper.

“Sehun and Luhan. Last row, last column”

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Luhan denied it in his head. He refused to move, grabbing onto his desk desperately as Mr. Cho stomped over.

“Luhan, you need to move to the back.”

Luhan glared at the man in front of him, pointing an accusing finger at him.

“You! You planned this didn’t you?!” He screeched. Mr. Cho cocked an eyebrow and pointed at the seat behind Luhan.

“Luhan, move.”

Luhan was on the verge of exploding. Chanyeol ran over and grabbed Luhan, forcing him down.

“Chill! Breathe in, breathe out. You can do this!”

“Fuck off, Chanyeol! I am not sitting next to that son of a bi-”

“Luhan!”

Baekhyun snickered from the corner. Chanyeol shot him look and slowly dragged a very pissed off Luhan to the back. Mr. Cho sighed and returned to the front of the room.

“Now, we’ll begin the lesson.”

Chanyeol returned to his seat and started a conversation with Kyungsoo, who blinked up at him. Luhan glared down at his bag before gritting his teeth.

“You seem awfully calm about this.” He seethed to Sehun, who finally took his eyes off the book he was reading the entire time.

“I think you’re overreacting. It’s not like we’ll be forced to talk to each other, so why don’t you just leave me be and I won’t bother myself with you either.”

Luhan opened his mouth to retort, but Mr. Cho turned around to face the class. He glared at Chanyeol who seemed to be having a wonderful time scaring Kyungsoo, and Baekhyun

who was busy glaring at the former.

“Traitors.” He grumbled.  He looked at Sehun from the corner of his eyes and felt a whole new anger bubbling inside of him. He bumped his head on the desk and closed his eyes for the rest of the period.

He opened his eyes at the end of class. When he lifted his head, the classroom was almost empty, save for a couple of students who lingered to talk to their friends. Luhan frowned when he noticed that both Baekhyun and Chanyeol were gone. Instead, Sehun remained in his seat, his head buried in a book.

“Yah.” Luhan drawled, getting Sehun’s attention by kicking his leg. Sehun lifted his head with a heavy sigh and glared at Luhan. “Do you know where Baekhyun and Chanyeol went?”

Sehun snorted and closed his book. “I don’t usually pay attention to people I find annoying.”

Luhan remained silent. Sehun sighed and stood up. “That means no. I don’t know where they went.”

“Fine.” Luhan snapped and stood up. He was about to slam the door shut when he felt a hand stop him from doing so.

“What are you doing?” Luhan snarled. “Did you just stop me?”

Sehun cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, drama queen is acting up again. My bad.”

Luhan scoffed and glared up at him. “Just let me go idiot.”

“Don’t you ever get tired of starting a fight with basically every human being on the planet?” Sehun asked, his voice sounding genuinely curious for the first time since Luhan met him.

“No. I actually find it quite intriguing. Now let me go.”

“What exactly did I do to piss you off? Because from what I remember, all I ever did was tell you exactly what you were. And I’m under the impression that you’re very well aware of it.”

Luhan growled and tried to push Sehun’s hand off his wrist. “It’s none of your business why I dislike you so much.”

Sehun looked at Luhan with much amusement as Luhan tried to pry his fingers away. “Actually, it is my business. I don’t want to have a bitch nipping at my back.”

At that exact moment, Baekhyun appeared behind Luhan with a coke on each hand. He looked at both of them with a sly grin.

“Sorry, did I interrupt something?”

Sehun sighed and slowly let Luhan go. “Looks like annoying pest number two has arrived. I’ll be on my way then.”

Luhan gaped as Sehun pushed past them. Baekhyun laughed as if the whole ordeal was the funniest thing that had ever happened to him since Chanyeol dumped cereal on himself last christmas.

“I think I like that Sehun guy even more now,” Baekhyun chirped as Luhan snatched a coke away, gulping it up in hurry.

“Shut up about him. Where’s Chanyeol?” Luhan asked with a loud burp. Baekhyun scowled at him in disapproval.

“Ew, that was disgusting. But anyways, Chanyeol is in the the music room. I told him to wait for me while I get you.”

“Chanyeol? In the music room alone? Are you sure that’s safe?” Luhan asked while the two walked towards the said classroom. Baekhyun shrugged.

“I told him to make sure to not touch anything until I come back. He’ll listen to me if he values his life.”

Luhan whistled and shot Baekhyun an impressed look as they arrived in front of the music room. Baekhyun opened the door and caught Chanyeol in the middle of pressing a piano key.

“Ah, it looks likes Channie here doesn’t value his life after all.”

Chanyeol gulped as Baekhyun approached him with a menacing look. Luhan closed the door shut and walked away from the scene. 

►♦►

 

Luhan walked into the classroom a few days later and reluctantly took his seat in the back. Sehun was already seated, and didn’t bother to give Luhan a glance. Mr. Cho soon entered the room with the same evil grin he had when he assigned new seats.

“Class. Wonderful news. Again!” Mr. Cho exclaimed while clapping his hands dramatically. The classroom turned silent, and Luhan could see Baekhyun burning holes in Mr.Cho’s shirt

with his fiery glare.

“To celebrate a new change of seats, and to prepare ourselves for the festival coming up, I decided to start a group project! Each pair will come up with an idea in which they will present at the festival! It could be a creative game, a new recipe to sell, a haunted house, whatever! The focus is cooperation and creativity, so have fun while you’re on it!”

The tension in the room visibly lightened and Baekhyun finally softened his glare.

“Ok then. The exact details will be handed out in a while. First, you have to choose a partner.”

It was with those words that made the class alive once again. Girls squealed and turned around, eyeing their friends and smiling at each other. Boys began laughing and goofing off.

Baekhyun simply smirked.

“It’s only partner work, so no threes or fours. Tough luck for those who have two best friends.” Mr. Cho said, but Luhan could swear he was staring at him while he was talking.

“I’ll give you exactly ten minutes to pick someone, and that’s it. Go.”

The class immediately sprang up. Girls huddled in one corner, clapping their hands together in glee and giggling about something. Luhan walked over and tapped Baekhyun and Chanyeol on their shoulder.

“What are we going to do?”

Baekhyun pouted and turned around, giving Luhan an apologetic look.

“Sorry, but I promised Chanyeol we’ll partner up this time. Remember last time he had to be with that guy who had flies flying around him? And before that, I had to be with a girl who insisted bloody mary was real and we should worship her? Yeah, it’s your turn this time, buddy.”

Luhan scowled and reached out to call out either Jongin or Kyungsoo, but they beat him to it.

“I’m partnering up with Kyung.” Jongin said. “Find someone else, bambi.”

“Yah, Kim Jongi-”

“Don’t fucking call me that. It’s Kai to you.”

Luhan grumbled.

“Then who am I supposed to partner up with?!”

Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Jongin, and Kyungsoo gave him a blank look. They all slowly smiled slyly and pointed at someone at the corner.

Luhan felt a shiver go down his spine. He slowly turned around and looked at the person who was currently writing something down in his notebook. When he felt eyes on him, Sehun slowly lifted his head and caught five pair of eyes staring at him.

“Do you need something?’

Luhan gasped and spun around.

“No way in hell! I’ll rather partner up with that guy who can only talk about his obsession with fish!”

Luhan sprang up and scanned the room.

“Yah, Lee Donghae!”

Donghae lifted his head and looked at him sheepishly.

“Sorry, Luhan. I’m partnering with Eunhyuk.”

Eunhyuk waved at him casually. Luhan narrowed his eyes and looked at his other targets.

“Kim Jonghyun! Want to partner up?”

Jonghyun looked at him and smiled apologetically.

“Sorry, I’m with my boyfriend here.”

Said boyfriend, aka Kim Kibum, nodded curtly with a smirk. Luhan scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Tiffany!”

Tiffany, one of the only girls in his school who could handle Luhan’s feisty attitude, turned around and grinned brightly.

“Taeyeonnie wants to partner up with me. Maybe some other time?” Tiffany said, linking arms with her best friend.

“Give up Luhan.” Baekhyun smiled smugly and pulled a disheveled Luhan down. “You

heard her. Maybe next time.”

“B-b-but..”

“Luhan!”

Luhan looked up to see Mr. Cho right beside him, towering over him. “Is there a problem?”

“Uh. No.”

“He doesn’t have a partner, sir.” Chanyeol grinned widely. “Everyone’s taken.”

Mr. Cho cocked his eyebrow and scanned the room. Just like Chanyeol had said, everyone was with their partner, chatting and laughing. Then, his eyes landed on a certain someone at the back of the class.

“Oh Sehun.”

Sehun sighed and looked up with a tired expression.

“Yes?”

Mr. Cho lifted a finger and pointed at Luhan, who was gaping between the teacher and the boy with the lisp.

“You don’t have a partner, do you? Why don’t you partner up with Luhan here?”

Sehun remained still. Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and Jongin all held their breaths in anticipation.

“Whatever.”

Sehun replied coldly and looked away. Baekhyun let out an excited squeal and hugged Kyungsoo, who smiled back. Jongin smirked and leaned back in his chair, while Chanyeol gulped and looked wearily at Luhan.

“There’s your partner, Luhan.” Mr. Cho said and pat him on the back before returning to the front of the room.

“No. Fucking. Way.” Luhan sneered, his eyes cold and menacing as he glared at the teacher. Mr. Cho blinked and looked at him.

“Excuse me?”

“I said. There’s no fucking way I’m partnering up with the bastard over there.”

Baekhyun gasped and flung towards his best friend, covering his mouth with his hand.

“Luhan.” He whispered sharply. “Shut up. You’re going to get in trouble, idiot.”

“Do I look like I care? I already have to sit next to him. Now I have to do a freaking project with him?!” Luhan sneered, his voice cold as ice. Mr. Cho grabbed a piece of paper and slammed it on top of Luhan’s desk.

“Here’s the assignment. I expect you and Sehun to cooperate, Luhan. If not, you’ll receive an F, and I’m afraid that also means you’ll fail this class.”

Luhan glowered as Mr.Cho walked away. Baekhyun wearily removed his hand and backed away.

“I am going to fucking kill you all.”

 

►♦►

 

The bell rang twice, and Chanyeol and Baekhyun made a beeline to their lockers. Jongin and Kyungsoo waved at Luhan, who was still fuming in his seat, before going outside themselves. Luhan narrowed his eyes and glared at the piece of paper on his desk.

“If you’re done killing the paper with your glare, why don’t we start discussing the work we have in front of us? I don’t know about you, but I’m not planning on failing this project.”

Luhan slowly lifted his head and met eyes with Sehun.

“Do I look like I’ll be working on this thing with you, dumbass?”

Sehun sighed and massaged his temples.

“Oh god, you’re hopeless.”

Luhan stood up abruptly and gave Sehun a final glare before grabbing the paper and shoving it in Sehun’s hands.

“Let’s look at this logically. I hate you. You hate me. You want to work on this project, I couldn’t care less. What’s the obvious solution here?”

Sehun stared blankly ahead.

“You work on it alone.”

“You do realize that this is a group project, right? I don’t want to work with you as much as you don’t want to work with me. But it looks like we have no other solution. Now why don’t you stop being a stubborn lazy ass and start planning.”

Luhan bit the inside of his cheeks. He grabbed his bag and pushed past Sehun to walk out of the classroom. He eyed the hallway and walked out to the middle of the crowd.

“Yah, Byun Baekhyun!”

The hallway, previously filled with chattering students, became silent at the furious voice of the ever so frightening Xi Luhan. Baekhyun, who was hiding behind a trash can, gulped loudly and tried to flatten out his hair.

“Damn it, Chan. I shouldn’t have jelled up my hair today.”

“I told you to put it down.”

“Shut up.”

“Byun Baekhyun! I know you’re out there! Come out before I have to rip out that precious hair of yours!”

Baekhyun yelped and leaned back further, accidentally crashing into Chanyeol who was squished between him and the wall.

“Ow, that was my nose!”

“It’ll hurt much more when Luhan finds us!”

“Fuck you eyeliner! You better come out before I lay a hand on your precious puppy dog!”

A flash of fear crossed Chanyeol’s eyes and Baekhyun sighed heavily. He stood up and walked forward.

“I thought we were done threatening Chanyeol when we were in seventh grade.”

“That was before both of you decided to screw up my life.”

Baekhyun smirked and cocked his head, pointing to two boys in the corner.

“Actually, they were part of it too.”

Jongin rolled his eyes in irritation and Kyungsoo cowered behind Jongin in fear. Luhan shot them a glare that could easily kill.

“You guys are so dead.”

Baekhyun shook his head and reached out to pull Chanyeol out. Chanyeol whimpered and tried to hide behind Baekhyun, however failing miserably because he was at least a head taller that the latter.

“Don’t be a coward, Chanyeol. It’s only Luhan. You know he’s a harmless little deer, right?”

The crowd gasped at the indirect insult and dramatically turned their heads toward Luhan, anticipating the drama.

Luhan seethed, lunging forward, when a hand grabbed his shirt and pulled him backwards. Luhan spun around and glared at the person who dared to stop him.

“What do you want?” He shouted, shoving Sehun away from him. Sehun looked at him with tired eyes.

“Do you really want to start a fight in the middle of the corridor? And, by the way, we still have to plan our project.”

Sehun grabbed Luhan’s shirt and dragged him off. Luhan kicked and screamed, but he was too weak to do much. Baekhyun and Chanyeol gawked at the two along with the rest of the crowd.

“Did....did Oh Sehun just drag Luhan away?” Chanyeol stuttered, pointing his shaking finger at the retreating figures of Sehun and Luhan.

“I- I think so.” Baekhyun answered him, equally taken back. Jongin, annoyed at the crowd, shooed them off with a stern look.

“Look.” He started. “At least Sehun is cooperating with us in this plan, isn’t he?”

Kyungsoo’s face immediately brightened up, and Baekhyun quickly flattened out his hair.

“Seems like this is going to easier than I thought.”

Luhan was pulled into a nearby classroom and frowned as Sehun slammed the door behind him. He twirled around and managed to pull out of Sehun’s grasp, slightly massaging the red mark around his wrist.

 

“Jerk,” he spat. Sehun looked down at him with a look that almost looked amused. Luhan straightened up when he realized that he was a couple of centimeters shorter than the guy in front of him.

 

And not to mention this guy was a year younger.

 “Do you have a death wish, or are you always this idiotic?”

 Sehun cocked an eyebrow, urging Luhan to go on.

 

“Can you not get the fact that I hate you through that daft brain of yours? Do you need me to spell it our for you?”

 

Luhan’s fury grew only larger when he saw a tiny smile on Sehun’s face. It wasn’t a ha-ha-you’re-funny smile. It wasn’t a aww-you’re-adorable one either. It was one of pure amusement, as if he was looking at a child throwing a fit.

 

“What do you want,” Luhan growled. He wanted to get away fast. He still had to kill his friends for ditching him like that, and he didn’t want to spend another second with the pest in front of him.

 

Sehun sighed and opened his palm. He nodded at Luhan, who merely blinked back at him in confusion.

 

“What- you want a high five?”

 

Sehun snorted in the most unattractive manner.

 

“Your number.” Luhan blinked once more. “Excuse me?”

 

Sehun ran his hand through his hair and closed his eyes as a slight frown made its way onto his face.

 

“Give me your number.”

 

Luhan froze for a while before breaking into a laughing fit. Sehun crossed his arms and eyed the laughing boy in front of him.

 

“Yo-” Luhan gasped, regaining his breath. “Y-you want my number?”

 

“If we’re going to work on this project together, I’ll obviously need to know your number.”

 

Luhan’s grin disappeared in seconds and a frown replaced it. “Oh.”

 This time, Sehun was the one to smirk. “Did you think I was interested in you?”

 “Aw, bummer. I was hoping you were. It would be so much easier to destroy you then.”

 

Luhan shrugged nonchalantly but didn’t forget to shoot Sehun a quick glare before he turned around.

 Sehun leapt forward and grabbed Luhan’s arm, stopping him from moving.

 

“You still haven’t given me your number.”

 

Luhan rolled his eyes and slapped Sehun’s hand away. “You’re not getting it. Now stay the fuck away.”

 

With that, Luhan slammed the door shut behind him and stormed away. 

►♦►

 

“Luhan alert, Luhan alert, currently approaching us right now looking extremely pissed off. I suggest running away.”

 

Baekhyun eyed Chanyeol who had his chopsticks mid air, gaping as Luhan stormed in the cafeteria. Chanyeol dropped the chopsticks and sprang up, but Baekhyun grabbed his hand and pulled him back down.

 

“We are not running away. We’re going to face this like the men we are.”

 

“You bastards,” Luhan seethed as he slipped into the seat in front of them. He slammed his bag onto the table, which made Kyungsoo flinch in surprise.

 

“Uh-hi?” Baekhyun grinned cheekily. He picked up the biggest piece of pork on his plate and held it in front of Luhan. “You want this?”

 

Baekhyun could hear Chanyeol snort and whisper Yeah, very manly. He swiftly kicked Chanyeol’s shin beneath the table while continuing to smile at Luhan.

 

“Subtle,” Luhan muttered, but the frown was still evident on his face. Baekhyun laughed, grabbed Chanyeol’s wrist, and sprang up.

 

“Gotta go. Nice talking to you.”

 

Luhan stared as Baekhyun and Chanyeol stumbled out of the cafeteria. Luhan slowly turned around to see Kyungsoo blink nervously at him and Jongin lazily picking at his food.

 

“So, I heard you guys got something to do with me suddenly having to pair up with Oh Sehun.”

 

Jongin shrugged and Kyungsoo gave a timid giggle.

 

“Why is everyone so interested in making me talk to that guy?” Luhan asked.

 

Jongin leaned over and propped his elbows on top of the table, focusing his droopy eyes on Luhan.

 

“We’re not forcing you to do anything,” he said, “if anyone is, though, it’s Mr. Cho. He’s not going to change his mind about this project, so I suggest you just man it up and deal with it, doll face.”

 

“Don’t call me doll face, dick,” Luhan rolled his eyes. Jongin merely sighed and Kyungsoo visibly shrunk in his seat.

 

Luhan stood up, nodded at the two in a lazy manner, and walked away. He was about to leave the cafeteria when an arm grabbed him and spun him around.

 

“Luhan!” Donghae’s grin didn’t falter as he came face to face with Luhan’s glare. “I heard you have to partner with Oh Sehun for that project!”

 

“Don’t bring it up,” Luhan hissed, although his tone was more tired than pissed. Donghae gave a good natured laugh.

 

“Wow, never thought the day would come when the bitch would be working together with the untouchable. Two of the most infamous figures in one group! That’s a sight to see, isn’t it Hyukjae?”

 

A boy in short black hair with an equally big smile stepped forward.

 

“I’m going to look forward to whatever project you guys come up with. Good thing Oh Sehun’s a genius, Luhan, or you would be so doomed for this assignment.”

 

“I would’ve been fine on this project without him,” Luhan said, only to be met with two pairs of are-you-joking looks. He crossed his arms, huffed at the two and watched as they ran off.  

 ►♦►

 

 

Luhan sighed and threw himself on the bed. His bag was halfway across the room, on top of a pile of used clothes. When he felt a vibration from his pocket, he reached down and took out his phone, unlocking the screen and checking the recent message.

 From: unknownMessage: school, wednesday, 5pm. -sehun

 

Luhan scoffed and sprung up, sitting on his bed with his legs crossed. He glared at the phone for a few seconds before clicking reply

 

To: unknownMessage: how the fuck did you get my number

 

His phone remained still for a few minutes before it finally buzzed.

 

From: assholeMessage: Your number isn’t sacred. I asked around.

 

Luhan’s eyes narrowed and was about to hit reply when another message popped up on his screen.

 

From: assholeMessage: save your smartass comment for later. we need to work on our project. you won’t agree to anything so i’m just letting you know. school, wednesday, 5pm.

 

Throwing his phone on the ground, Luhan rolled over, stuffed his head on his pillow, and let out a high pitched scream.

 

►♦►

 Baekhyun was lying down on his bed, flipping through a music magazine, when he heard a loud bang on his window. He looked up, startled, but decided that he was much too lazy to stand up and check who it was. He returned his gaze to the magazine, but few seconds later his door burst open and Chanyeol came running in.

 

“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol exclaimed and jumped on his bed. Baekhyun sighed and threw the magazine beside him before rolling over to make space.

 

“Chanyeol, you’re sweaty from basketball. At least go wash before dirtying up my blankets.”

 

Chanyeol smiled despite Baekhyun’s nagging. He raised a tip of his shirt, smelled it, and shook his head.

 

“It’s not that bad,” he began, but closed his mouth when he caught Baekhyun’s glare. He stood up and went into the bathroom to take a quick shower. Baekhyun picked up the magazine once again, but didn’t get too far before Chanyeol came out, his hair dripping wet and a towel hanging on his waist.

 

“Baek, you’re running out of soap!” Chanyeol said, and Baekhyun looked up for a split second before standing up and following him into the bathroom. He took a look at the empty soap stand.

 

“Check the second cabinet to the right. You should find extra soap there,” Baekhyun turned around and grinned when he saw Chanyeol standing in front of him, his torso in plain view.

 

“Oh wow, Chanyeol, since when did you have abs?”

 

Baekhyun teased and extended his hand, touching Chanyeol’s stomach.

 

“I am on the basketball team, thank you very much.”

 

Chanyeol laughed and flicked Baekhyun’s forehead. He took out the soap, ushered Baekhyun out of the bathroom, and quickly finished his shower.

 

Chanyeol came over to Baekhyun’s house often enough that he had a bunch of his own clothes stacked here. He opened Baekhyun’s closet, took out the biggest looking sweatshirt and pants, and put them on. When Baekhyun finally gave him a nod of approval, he happily skipped over and sat down on the bed.

 

“So,” Chanyeol, staring at Baekhyun who was busy flipping through the magazine. “What do you think will happen with Luhan?”

 

Baekhyun lifted his head and seemed to contemplate the question for a second.

 

“I would say we succeeded if Sehun actually manages to come out of this alive.”

 

Chanyeol snorted. “Luhan isn’t that bad. Sure, he’s harsh with his words and can be hot headed at times. But Sehun doesn’t strike me as the type to take Luhan seriously.”

 

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Baekhyun faced Chanyeol, his face serious. “I don’t think Sehun’s overly sensitive either. What I’m scared of is that they might end up being friends.”

 

Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun for a few moments before bursting out in laughter.

 

“Are you kidding me? Luhan hates his guts, and Sehun seems to feel the same! There’s no way they’re going to like each other. I bet they’re going to finish this project as fast as they can and never talk to each other again.”

 

“Look, Sehun is the first person, excluding us of course, who can actually deal with Luhan’s temper. If that’s not the start of a budding friendship, I don’t know what is!”

 

“So you’re saying you think they’re going to be all friendly because they claim to hate each other right now?”

 

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

 

Chanyeol gave Baekhyun an incredulous look.

 

“I really don’t get your logic.”

 

Baekhyun sighed, looked at Chanyeol with sympathy, and pat his on the shoulder.

 

“I don’t expect you to.”

 

Chanyeol pouted, lied down, and spent the rest of the afternoon snoring off next to a smiling Baekhyun. To say Jongin was not in a good mood was probably the understatement of the century. Sure, he was never sunshine and flowers, but he didn’t remember the last time he felt this downright pissed.

 

People passing by caught the anger radiating off him, as one by one they began to walk around him. Jongin usually would’ve moved out of the way, seeing he was probably making traffic the way he refused to move from the middle of street, but he couldn’t care less at the moment.

 

All that mattered to Jongin at the moment was the fact that Do Kyungsoo, who had promised to meet him today to watch a movie he had wanted to watch for the past month, was 45 minutes late.

 

Kyungsoo was late.

 

Jongin was impatient by nature. He hated when people stalled for absolutely no reason and had no tolerance for anything of that sort. This was primarily the reason why Jongin began to talk to Kyungsoo in the first place; Kyungsoo’s shyness was ticking him off by the past minute.

 

However, once Jongin got to know Kyungsoo, he realized that the latter was actually a very punctual person. Kyungsoo became more talkative, so Jongin had to no longer keep himself from strangling the other while he attempted to talk. Kyungsoo came to their meetings in time, always prepared and happy to go, and it was exactly the way Jongin liked it.

 

So why, Jongin wondered, was he forced to wait in the middle of the street for the last 45 minutes for someone as punctual as Do Kyungsoo? If Jongin wasn’t so close to Kyungsoo, then he would’ve left the moment he realized Kyungsoo was going to be late. But he waited, and his patience was quickly running out.

 

Running his hands through his hair and sighing in frustration, Jongin flipped open his phone to check the time again. 46 minutes and 15 seconds. And still no messages from Kyungsoo.

 

Jongin shoved his phone back into his pocket and turned around to leave when he heard a loud shout from behind.

 

“Jongin-ah!”

 

Jongin’s face hardened and his hands coiled into hard fists. Prepared to show Kyungsoo exactly how furious he was, Jongin turned around and pointed his glare at the smaller male.

 

The sight in front of him was shocking. Jongin’s eyes immediately widened and he had to stop himself from falling forwards.

 

“Ky-kyungsoo?”

 

Jongin gaped as his eyes slowly scanned his friend. Kyungsoo was the exact definition of chaos; his hair was ruffled and pointing in all directions, his clothes were extremely loose, as if they had been violently pulled on, and the side of his shoes were ripped.

 

On top of that, Jongin could swear he saw bits of purple bruises under the light cream Kyungsoo had put on.

 

Kyungsoo’s eyes turned into two crescent moons as he reached out and playfully tugged on Jongin’s arms.

 

“Are you mad? Sorry I was late. Something came out and I couldn’t get out of it. I swear I’ll make it u-”

 

“Kyungsoo,” Jongin interrupted. Kyungsoo’s eyes immediately turned into the usual oval when he heard Jongin’s serious tone. His hands let go of Jongin’s arms, but they hovered in the air, unsure of where to go.

 

“Kyungsoo,” Jongin repeated, his eyes staring at Kyungsoo’s stature, “Do you see yourself?”

 

Kyungsoo’s face hardened and he quickly brushed his hair down, his eyes wavering as they stared at the ground.

 

“I-I was in a hurry when I realized how late I was. I’m a mess, aren’t I?”

 

Jongin’s jaws hardened and his hands grabbed Kyungsoo’s shoulders, startling him.

 

“You look terrible,” Jongin snapped, “And I want to know exactly why my best friend looks like he just got beat up.”

 

“Jongin it’s nothi-”

 

“Cut the crap, Kyungsoo, because I’m not buying it. You have bruises on your face and your clothes are all ruined and I swear if I find out why I’m go-”

 

Kyungsoo closed his eyes tightly as he pulled Jongin closer and nestled in his arms. Jongin stood still, shocked by his actions, when he felt Kyungsoo trembling in his arms.

 

“Please, please Jongin,” Kyungsoo whispered, “I don’t want to fight. I was just clumsy. You need to believe me. Please.”

 

Jongin’s opened his mouth to retort, but Kyungsoo’s shaking figure stopped him. He sighed and decided that he would bring it up next time. He tightly snaked his arms around Kyungsoo’s thin waist and pulled him closer.  

 ►♦►

 

Luhan dragged his body into the school building, aware of the fact that he was probably the only student there. There was still a good hour or two before most of the students came piling in, and Luhan had to ask himself for the tenth time that morning why he was awake at this hour.

 

Grabbing whatever he might need for class from his locker, including a small pillow and a soundproof earplug, he walked to his homeroom class. Mr. Cho had talked to him a few days ago about coming early to school, saying something about an emergency, and although Luhan was extremely determined to bail out, Baekhyun had reminded him that Mr. Cho was responsible for the homeroom grade he needed to graduate.

 

Ah, might as well, better than having to deal with mom’s nagging

 

Luhan encouraged himself and bit his lower lip in determination and he pushed open the door and staggered towards his seat. Mr. Cho wasn’t there yet, so Luhan took his seat and plugged in his earphones, staring outside the moment until the teacher showed up.

 

A few minutes must have passed when Luhan heard a low rustling from outside the room. Luhan frowned and faced the door, unplugging his ears slowly.

 

The rustling became louder, and Luhan wondered exactly who would be at school at this early hour. It wasn’t Mr. Cho for sure, because Luhan was already aware of the sound of the teacher’s footsteps. After a whole year of running away from the said person, it was natural for Luhan to notice what his footstep sounded like so he could always be ready.

 

Luhan stood up and eyed the door warily. He walked forwards and opened the door, poking his head out and scanning the hallway.

 

A figure was walked towards the classroom. His hood was pulled over his head, and his eyes were focusing on the phone in his hands, but Luhan immediately noticed who it was.

 

“Oh Sehun?”

 

Sehun’s head shot up and he stared at Luhan. There was a slight moment of silence between them, before Sehun broke the ice.

 

“....you do realize that school isn’t starting in another hour or so, right?”

 

Luhan scoffed and leaned on the door. “Yes, I’m just here for fun.”

 

Sehun stood still, staring at Luhan, and the latter sighed and dropped his head.

 

“I was being sarcastic.”

 

“Yes, I see that. I was waiting for the actual reason you’re here.”

 

“Do you always have to be so rude?”

 

Sehun looked amused. “Look who’s talking.”

 

Luhan glared at Sehun, but Sehun laughed quietly and pushed past the shorter male and went into the room. He took his place and stared at Luhan expectantly.  “Aren’t you going to sit down?”

 

Luhan crossed his arms and frowned. “Why would I do such a thing? I’m trying my best to stay as far away from you.”

 

Sehun shrugged and pulled out a pile of books from his bag. “You’re problem, not mine.”

 

Luhan groaned and looked at the phone. It was already 15 minutes past the time Mr.Cho had planned to meet him, and he still wasn’t here. Luhan took a random seat in the middle of the room and leaned forward, burying his head in his arms.

 

“Wake me up when Cho comes, will you?”

 

Luhan was greeted with a low grunt, and took it as a yes. He closed his eyes and quickly catched up to the sleep he was desperately needing.

 

It must’ve been at least a half an hour later when Luhan heard a quiet mumbling coming from the room. His ears perked up when he caught the subject of the conversation.

 

“-asked him to come to discuss the project. Luhan’s a troublesome student, and I’m sorry to say this Sehun, but I was hoping you would be able to help lead him in the right direction.

 

It sounded like Mr. Cho was having a conversation with Sehun. Luhan frowned, mentally cursing Sehun for not waking him up.

 

“It seems like Luhan hates my guts, Mr. Cho. I doubt I’ll be able to ‘help’ him in any way.”

 

Mr. Cho sighed.

 

“Luhan’s a good kid. He just has an unique way of showing it, that’s all,” Mr. Cho’s voice sounded strained, “To be honest, I’m very concerned about the both of you. Luhan is failing all of his classes, but he doesn’t isolate himself from his peers. You excel academically, Sehun, but you need to stop pushing everyone away. You both will be positive influences on each other. I’m sure of it.”

 

“Mr. Cho, I don’t want to-”

 

“I know it’s going to be hard, but you need to start opening up. Give yourself a chance, alright?”

 

Sehun remained silent for a while, before he sighed and replied hesitantly.

 

“I’ll try,” Sehun said, “but I doubt Luhan will give me a chance.”

 

Mr. Cho chuckled. “As long as you keep him entertained, I’m sure you two will have no problem. But I have to tell you two to refrain from destroying anything in my classroom or killing each other.”

 

Sehun sighed. “Tell that to him, sir.”

 

Luhan’s breath hitched in his throat when he realized that Sehun was pointing at him. Luhan shifted around and slowly lifted his head, yawning to do the trick. He looked at the two male with sleepy eyes.

 

“Oh, you finally decided to show up Mr. Cho.”

 

Mr. Cho’s eyes narrowed but he looked like he was trying to keep quiet.

 

Luhan dragged his body off the desk and walked towards the teacher. “Anyways, why did you want to talk to me?”

 

Mr. Cho swiftly looked at Sehun, who was staring at something on the opposite wall with a blank look, before turning his gaze back to Luhan.

 

“I think I got the matter settled with Sehun. You just worry with staying awake during class.”

 

Luhan stared as Mr. Cho gave them a quick goodbye and walked out the classroom. Luhan groaned and looked back at Sehun.

 

“You didn’t wake me up,” he said matter-of-factly.

 

Sehun finally broke out of his daze and matched Luhan’s eyes with equal strength.

 

“I wasn’t aware that I was supposed to.”

 

“I told you to.”

 

“Did I ever say yes?”

 

“You grunted.”

 

Sehun cocked an eyebrow. “How does that even remotely sound like a yes?”

 

“A grunt is supposed to be a sound of agreement, you idiot. How was I supposed to know that you liked to make grunting sounds for fun?”

 

Sehun shrugged and went back to his seat. He sat down and opened a book, flipping to a random page. He lifted his eyes and glanced at Luhan.

 

“Aren’t you going to sit? Class is starting soon.”

 

Luhan opened his mouth to retort when the door behind him slammed open and one of his classmate came walking in. He gaped at Luhan for a while, glanced at Sehun in panic, and quickly took a step back and ran out. Luhan grinned widely and took his seat beside Sehun.

 

“Looks like you scared him away.”

 

Sehun smirked but his eyes didn’t leave the book.

 

“I’m sure it was you, but if it makes you feel any better, let’s say it was me.”

 

Luhan rolled his eyes and leaned his head against his bookbag, which was placed on top of his desk.

 

“Wake me up this time, or I swear I will purposely fail this project just to see you cry .”

Sehun scoffed, but Luhan could hear a quiet sure before he fell asleep once again.

Sehun impatiently tapped his finger against the table, biting his lips and staring at his wristwatch every few minutes. The librarian looked  at him, a clear frown etched on her face, and Sehun bowed in apology and quickly moved to a table that was hidden from view.

 

Another twenty minutes passed before Sehun caught sight of a dirty blonde head making its way to the table. Sehun sighed and glared as Luhan slumped into the seat across of him.

 

“So you finally decided to show up,” Sehun said. Luhan frowned and leaned backwards in his chair.

 

“You should be glad I even showed up,” Luhan snapped, “I wasn’t planning to, but Baekhyun threatened to put eyeliner on me if I didn’t come to this shit.”

 

Sehun cocked an eyebrow. “And that made you come?”

 

“Wouldn’t you?” Luhan stretched his arms and yawned. “Anyways, I’m here so let’s get this over with.

 

Sehun reached into his bag and took out his notebook and opened it to an empty page. He pushed it in front of Luhan and handed him a pencil. Luhan stared at the pencil in his hand and looked blankly at Sehun.

 

“We need to brainstorm,” Sehun said and pointed at the blank page, “write down any ideas you have for our project. I’ll look through them and see which one seems the best.”

 

Luhan twirled his pencil around for a few seconds before bringing the notebook closer and writing down something.

 

Grinning, Luhan turned the notebook around and showed it to Sehun.

 

1. Cursing booth2. Pranking all the teachers as a school-body3. Glaring competition

 

Sehun slowly lifted his eyes and stared at Luhan.

 

“A cursing booth?” he dead-panned, “a glaring competition? What the fuck is this?”

 

Luhan grinned widely.

 

“Okay, so for the cursing booth all the students can come over and freely cuss each other out. And nobody would get in trouble for it. It’s promoting freedom of speech! That’s written in some kind of formal American document, isn’t it? We should practice it!”

 

Sehun sighed and massaged his temples. “What about the glaring competition?”

 

“That’s another one of my ingenious ideas. It’s basically a staring competition, except it’s a bit more extreme that. Students come and glare at each other for a given amount of time before one looks away! The winner gets to punch the loser! I think its a great way to publicly express your hatred towards someone.”

 

Luhan paused for a while. “I think we should practice first. Just to tell you, I’m an expert in glaring.”

 

Sehun shut the notebook with a look of distress. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

 

Luhan shrugged nonchalantly. “Why don’t you come up with something then.”

 

Sehun flipped to a new page and frowned slightly. Luhan took out his phone and went back to texting Chanyeol.

 

A few minutes later, Luhan was interrupted by a loud cough and was forced to look up from his phone. Sehun had written something down on the notebook and was waiting for Luhan with an impatient look.

 

“You done?” Luhan said. “Great. I’ll be going now.”

 

“No, you are not going,” Sehun said firmly and pulled Luhan back down, “I haven’t even explained my idea yet.”

 

Luhan rolled his eyes and shook Sehun’s hands away. “Whatever it is, I honestly don’t care. You don’t even need me here.”

 

“We’re doing this together,” Sehun emphasized and tapped on the words he had just written down, “Now for the project, I was going to go in a direction of something both original but not too hard.”

 

Luhan shrugged.

 

“Since this is a school-wide festival, I’m guessing most students will come up with ideas such as face painting, food stands, kissing booths, and other things like that. If we want to get a decent grade, we need to come up with some - Luhan, are you even listening?”

 

Luhan tore his eyes away from his phone and frowned in annoyance.

 

“What? I told you I didn’t care.”

 

“This is our project, not mine.”

 

“Oh please, you would do perfectly fine working on your own.”

 

Sehun narrowed his eyes and before he could retort, Luhan swatted his hands and pointed at the paper.

 

“Just explain the idea will you? I need to meet up with Chanyeol in an hour.”

 

Sehun eyed Luhan with suspicion before slowly starting again.

 

“Anyway, as I was saying, I was thinking of something that will be unique. That’s how I came up with this.”

 

Sehun turned the paper away and Luhan glanced at it.

 

The Truth Game

 

Luhan looked up and blinked. “The what?”

 

“The Truth Game. It basically requires all participants to tell the truth to anything question given. It’s a spin off of Truth and Dare, I guess.”

 

“How’s this different from the Cursing booth I suggested?”

 

Sehun cocked an eyebrow. “Luhan, not everyone’s truth is an insult.”

 

“You called me a two-faced bitch when you first met me!”

 

“That was the truth.”

 

“Hah, very funny,” Luhan mocked, “Now that we’re finished, I’ll be on my way.”

 

Sehun groaned and for the second time that hour, pulled Luhan back into his seat.

 

“Luhan,” Sehun said in between his teeth, “We just got done with coming up with an idea. We’re nowhere near done.”

 

“We can come up with the rest some other day!”

 

Sehun massaged his temples. “I thought you wanted to get this over with. Do you really want to meet me again?”

 

Luhan bumped his head against the table. “You’re a really annoying partner,” he mumbled.

 

“You’re an impossible one,” Sehun shot back and tapped the notebook impatiently. “Will you please cooperate?”

 

After shooting Sehun a vicious glare, Luhan sighed and took out his phone. “I’ll go tell Chanyeol I’m going to be late then.”

 

Sehun eyed Luhan suspiciously while the latter stood up. “You’re not going to run away, are you?”

 

“Of course I’m not!,” Luhan snapped, “I don’t want to have to meet you again!”

 

Sehun watched as Luhan dialed a number as he walked out of the library.

 

When Sehun checked his wristwatch again, it had been already 20 minutes since Luhan had left. He sighed and slowly began to collect his things.

 

Xi Luhan, you’re really something.

 

►♦►

 

Chanyeol grinned widely and waved as Luhan came running in his direction. Luhan skid in an abrupt stop and breathed heavily, trying to collect his breath.

 

“You’re earlier than I expected,” Chanyeol said in his usual happy tone, “I thought you were meeting up with that Sehun guy for the project?”

 

“I did,” Luhan panted, “I ran away in the middle.”

 

Chanyeol whistled and clapped his hands, clearly impressed. “Wow, you managed to get away from the Untouchable. Congratulations.”  “Shove it,” Luhan snapped, but cracked a grin when he saw Chanyeol’s wide smile. “He was annoying me with responsibilities and duties. You know I can’t handle that.”

 

“Baekhyun is going to kill you if he finds out. He was super excited about you meeting Sehun.”

 

Luhan rolled his eyes. “I couldn’t care less.”

 

After a good ten minutes of Luhan recovering from running, Luhan grabbed Chanyeol’s arm and dragged him along. “So, Chan, what are you planning to get Baekhyun?”

 

Chanyeol’s smile immediately dropped.

 

“I don’t know. I don’t think I should try baking again. Baekhyun nearly shoved a lighted candle down my throat after tasting the chocolate cake I made.”

 

Luhan laughed at the memory. “That cake did taste like shit.”

 

Chanyeol pouted and scratched his head. “What are you getting him?”

 

Luhan halted in front of a shop. Chanyeol glanced through the glass window and his eyes widened.

 

“Oh my gosh Luhan, this is brilliant!”

 

Luhan grinned smugly, nodded in agreement, and pushed open the door. The jiggling of the bells caught the shopkeeper’s attention as she lifted her head and greeted the two incoming boys with bright smiles.

 

“Hello, are you interested in purchasing something?”

 

Chanyeol gawked at the prices written in front of each item while Luhan’s eyes formed into two crescent moons.

 

“Hi,” Luhan exclaimed, “It’s my friend’s birthday in a few days, and I wanted to get him a present from this store. He’s my best friend, you see, and he’s always been going on and on about how much he loved this store.”

 

Chanyeol could see the shopkeeper melt under Luhan’s cute demeanor. He snorted quietly and quickly moved far away so he didn’t have to deal with Luhan’s sugar coated words.

 

“Oh, you are such a sweetie! Not everyone will be willing to spend so much money on their friend! Which particular item are you looking for?”

 

Luhan eyed the store for a while before walking to the glass case in the front of the store. He crouched down and pointed at silver colored music recorder on display.

 

“I think he wanted this one,” Luhan said, and faced the shopkeeper with a sweet smile, “may I see it?”

 

The shopkeeper walked over and opened the glass jar. She reached in and took out the recorder and handed it to the younger male.

 

“This,” the shopkeeper said, “is our finest music recorder. A lot of our professional musicians purchase this. It records music in an extremely high quality and can easily be moved to a computer or other bigger electronic devices. Your friend must really be interested in music to recognize such an item first hand.”

 

Luhan giggled and nodded. “Baekhyun wants to be a composer when he grows up. He doesn’t have the money to buy this and has been saving up, but I wanted to get this for his birthday. How much is it?”

 

Chanyeol had to stop himself from puking after hearing Luhan. Luhan caught Chanyeol’s eyes and swiftly stuck out his middle finger while the shopkeeper was faced the other way.

 

“That recorder is about 230,000 won.”

 

Luhan’s jaw dropped open and Chanyeol began coughing.

 

The shopkeeper eyed Luhan with pity and started to put away the recorder when Luhan lifted his hand and signaled her to stop.

 

Chanyeol eyed Luhan wearily. “Luhan, what are yo-”

 

Luhan grabbed Chanyeol’s sleeve and shook his head. Chanyeol immediately closed his mouth and nodded, understanding what Luhan was planning to do.

 

The shopkeeper blinked at stared as Luhan covered his eyes with his bangs and stared at the ground. Chanyeol closed his eyes and sniffed loudly.

 

“I-I didn’t want to bring this up,” Luhan said, his voice shaking slightly. Chanyeol’s legs gave away and he slumped to the ground.

 

“Ou-our friend, Baekhyun, he’s actually very sick,” Luhan mumbled, “the only thing that keeps him going is music.”

 

Chanyeol sobbed loudly and the shopkeeper looked at the two with pure panic written on her face.

 

“He doesn’t have much time left. That’s why we wanted to get him that recorder for his birthday.”

 

Luhan wiped his eyes with his sleeve and looked at the shopkeeper with tearful eyes.

 

“It’ll help us very much if you could make it a bit cheaper. Think it as charity. Please?”

 

Chanyeol added another sniffle as a final touch and lifted his head in time to see the shopkeeper finally break. Her eyes were red and she quickly packed the recorder into a brown bag and handed it to Luhan.

 

“How about 150,000 won?” the shopkeeper suggested, “I’m sorry, I can’t make it cheaper than that.”

 

Luhan immediately dried his eyes and stood up. He took out a couple of bills out of his pocket and handed it to the shopkeeper.

 

“Thanks,” Luhan grinned, “Baekhyun will appreciate it very much,”

 

Chanyeol bowed and walked out of the store with Luhan.

 

When they were a safe distance away from the store, Chanyeol burst out laughing.

 

“I can’t believe you just made Baekhyun into a dying patient!” Chanyeol exclaimed. Luhan chuckled and looked down at the box in his hands smugly.

 

“She completely fell for it,” Luhan said before glancing at Chanyeol, “Do you have any idea what you’re going to get him?”

 

Chanyeol shrugged.

 

“Whatever I get him isn’t going to come anywhere near your present. I don’t know if I should try.”

 

“Of course you should!” Luhan said. “Okay, since I’m done getting my present, I’m going to go home first.”

 

Chanyeol grabbed Luhan and spun him around. “Wait, but I didn’t get anything for him yet!”

 

Luhan scoffed and shook Chanyeol’s hand off. “I know. That’s something you’ll have to handle yourself.”

 

Chanyeol gaped as Luhan waved indifferently and walked away. Suddenly, the latter turned around and faced Chanyeol.

 

“Chanyeol!” Luhan screamed, “Baekhyun likes cupcakes!”

 

Chanyeol stood still while Luhan grinned and disappeared from view. He sighed and took out his wallet as he headed to the nearest convenience store.

Byun Baekhyun likes cupcakes, Chanyeol thought, maybe he’ll like the ones I bake for him too.

“Flour...flour...” Chanyeol muttered as he strolled along each aisle, “where is the flour...?”

 

Chanyeol was interrupted by a small cough and he glanced away from the stands in front. A girl who looked to be about his age smiled up at him.

 

“Hi. Are you looking for some flour?”

 

Chanyeol blushed red. The girl was extremely small, coming up to only Chanyeol’s chest. She was also very pretty, dark auburn hair coming to the middle of her waist and her almond eyes shining brightly.

 

“Yeah,” Chanyeol said, “but I can’t seem to find it.”

 

“I can take you to where the flour is,” the girl said and turned around, signaling Chanyeol to follow. Chanyeol couldn’t help but smile back at her friendliness and followed her.

 

“I come here a lot for groceries,” she piped up. Chanyeol noticed she had a really soft voice, and giggled inwardly. “Do you live near here?”

 

“About 15 minutes away. I came here to buy some ingredients for a birthday present.”

 

The girl looked up, clearly intrigued. “A birthday present? Is it for a girlfriend?”

 

Chanyeol shook his head vehemently. “No! Of course not! It’s for a friend. A male friend.”

 

The girl blinked and Chanyeol grimaced for being such an idiot.

 

“Oh, so you don’t hav-”

 

“I’m single.”

 

Chanyeol did a mental happy dance as the girl giggled and stopped in front of the very end aisle.

 

“Thanks!” Chanyeol beamed and grabbed a huge bag of flour, “you’re very nice.”

 

“My name is Kang Mihye.”

 

“Mine’s Park Chanyeol.”

 

Mihye extended her hand and Chanyeol took it.

 

“So, you come here often?”

 

Mihye nodded. “I have three younger siblings, and my parents are super busy with work, so I’m in charge of taking care of them. I know my way around here very well, and you looked really lost, so I figured that you were in need of some help.”

 

Chanyeol chuckled. “Yeah, if it weren’t for you, I probably would have to make cupcakes without any flour.”

 

Mihye giggled and Chanyeol swore he died a little right then.

 

“You’re funny,” Mihye said, “and kind too.”

 

Chanyeol scratched the back of his head, unsure of how to respond to the compliment.

 

“Thanks,” he said, “hey, Mihye, I was wondering if I could know your ph-”

 

“Chanyeol? What are you doing here?”

 

Chanyeol was abruptly cut off by another voice. He looked past Mihye’s head and saw Baekhyun staring at him with startled eyes.

 

“Baekhyun-ah,” Chanyeol exclaimed. He returned his gaze to Mihye, who was looking at the two boys with a confused look.

 

“This is Baekhyun. The friend I was telling you about.”

 

Mihye’s eyes widened in recognition and nodded. “Oh! The friend you’re bak-”

 

Chanyeol jumped forward and grabbed Mihye’s arm, stopping her from going on. Mihye stared at Chanyeol in surprise before understanding.

 

“Uh, nevermind,” Mihye quickly said. She smiled sweetly at Baekhyun, who had a small frown on his face.

 

“Hello, my name is Kang Mihye.”

 

“...... Byun Baekhyun.”

 

Mihye offered her hand, which Baekhyun stared at for a while before hesitantly shaking it.

 

“How exactly do you know Park Chanyeol?”

 

Mihye laughed. “I just met him. He was getting something and didn’t know where it was, so I offered to help him.”

 

“She was being very nice,” Chanyeol added, and smiled down at Mihye, who blushed red. Baekhyun cleared his throat and snatched his hand away a little too roughly.

 

Mihye stared at her hanging hand and retrieved it, laughing awkwardly.

 

“I guess I’ll be going now,” Mihye said, “I’ll see you later Chanyeol, if you ever decide to come back!”

 

“I’ll be back for sure.”

 

Chanyeol waved enthusiastically as Mihye said a quick goodbye to both boys and left the grocery store. Chanyeol turned to face Baekhyun, who was staring at the place Mihye had just left with a hardened look.   “Baekhyun?” Chanyeol asked and tapped the shorter male’s shoulder.

 

Baekhyun turned around and stared at Chanyeol.

 

“Do you flirt with girls everytime you come to buy groceries?”

 

Chanyeol was taken back with the sudden question.

 

“What? Of course not!”

 

Baekhyun scoffed and crossed his arms. “You sure looked like you were flirting with her.”

 

Chanyeol narrowed his eyes.

 

“It’s probably because I was!” he snapped, “and if you hadn’t interrupted, I could’ve gotten her phone number! Way to be a cockblock, Baekhyun!”

 

“Well it was a good thing I did, then!” Baekhyun fought back, “she was annoying anyways! And clearly not interested in you!”

 

“How would you know?!” Chanyeol was starting to lose his patience. Baekhyun was being impossible, and Chanyeol, who was always very understanding with his best friend, was absolutely dumbfounded at the moment.

 

“I just know, alright?!” Baekhyun retorted. His fiery eyes looked into Chanyeol’s eyes, but the anger quickly changed into something completely different.

 

“Baekhyun?” Chanyeol asked, his voice now soft and filled with worry, “are you okay?”

 

“I-I’m sorry,” Baekhyun whispered. He closed his eyes and massaged his eyelids. “I don’t know what’s wrong me.”

 

Chanyeol stood still for a moment and contemplated on what to do. He sighed and put the flour back on the shelf. He could always get it some other day. Luckily, Baekhyun’s birthday was still a few days away. Right now, his priority was comforting Baekhyun in whatever was bothering him.

 

“Let’s go,” Chanyeol said and grabbed Baekhyun’s hand as he dragged him out of the store, “I want to go your house. We can watch that drama you’ve been obsessed with for the past couple of days. And then you can make me dinner and I’ll sleep over. How does that sound?”

 

Chanyeol heard a faint reply and smiled widely.

 

“-Chanyeol.”

 

Chanyeol paused and look down. Baekhyun looked deep in thought, and Chanyeol cocked his head and urged Baekhyun to go on.“Are you going to go back? To that grocery store?”

 

Chanyeol was extremely puzzled. “Yes, probably. Is there a problem?”

 

Baekhyun froze for a split second. Chanyeol swore he saw a slight look of pain but it quickly turned into a bright smile.

 

“No, of course not. I was just going to ask you to buy me some stuff next time you went,” Baekhyun said. “Come on, I don’t want to be late for the show!”

 

Baekhyun broke away from Chanyeol’s grasp and began to run forwards. Chanyeol blinked, not understanding the sudden change in Baekhyun’s attitude, before shrugging and chasing after his best friend.

 

►♦►

 

Luhan hummed to himself as he walked back to his house. He was in an extremely good mood, which was a pretty rare thing these past couple of days. Not only was he able to successfully ditch his annoying partner, but he also got Baekhyun a present that was 80,000 won cheaper!

 

Luhan tucked the box carefully into his jacket pocket and was about to walk into his house when a small moving figure caught his attention. He slowly let go of the doorknob and was surprised when he saw Kim Jongin walk towards him with a big frown on his face.

 

“Kim Jongin?” Luhan said, “What are yo-”

 

“It’s Kai,” Jongin snapped back, “I thought I already reminded you.”

 

“I’m not going to call you by that ridiculous name.”

 

Jongin opened his mouth to retort but decided against it. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

 

“Look, Luhan, I came here to ask you a question.”

 

Luhan cocked an eyebrow. “Go ahead. Although I’m not sure why you thought I’d be interested.”

 

“Will you please just listen?” Jongin snapped.

 

Luhan crossed his arms and leaned on the door, waiting for Jongin to continue.

 

“I met up with Kyungsoo a few days ago,” Jongin said, his voice strained, “and when I saw him, he was a complete mess. He looked like he just got beaten up.”

 

Luhan remained silent.

 

“I thought about it, and I can’t come up with a proper answer. His parents are all wonderful, so I know it’s not them, and from what I know I don’t think he has a creepy stalker either.”

 

Luhan sighed. “So?”

 

“I was wondering if you did it.”

 

Luhan scoffed and looked at Jongin in disbelief. “You think I beat up your precious Kyungsoo?”

 

Jongin stood still for a while before nodding.

 

Luhan pushed himself off the door and met Jongin’s eyes. Jongin noticed that he looked extremely pissed off.

 

“Look here, Kim Jongin,” Luhan snarled, “for one, Kyungsoo happens to be Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s friend, which unfortunately makes him my friend; And I’ll let you know that I don’t ever attack my friends.”

 

Luhan took Jongin’s silence as a signal to continue.

 

“I don’t know what kind of human being you take me for, but I don’t hurt random people for fun. Especially to the point where they are left with bruises and scars at the end. I never go that far, do you understand me?”

 

“He was shaking, Luhan, and the only people he interacts with other than me are Baekhyun, Chanyeol and you, and it’s definitely not them, so it must be yo-”

 

“Kim fucking Jongin.”

 

Jongin was taken back by how furious Luhan looked.

 

“I might be an ass, but I don’t beat up people. Do I even look like I have the physical strength to beat up someone without getting a scratch myself? I care way too much about my body to even try. You’re assumptions are completely based off your opinions of me and to be honest, they’re extremely unfair. When did you ever see me ever bully Kyungsoo? When I tell you I didn’t you do it, you better fucking believe it.”

 

A heavy silence followed Luhan’s outburst, before Jongin broke the ice with a heavy sigh.

 

“I get it. I’m sorry, Luhan. I should’ve known better. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

 

Luhan stared at Jongin and slowly the anger began to disappear.

 

“It’s not like I don’t understand why you came to me,” Luhan stated, “I’m a bitch, Kyungsoo was hurt, I guess I was naturally a suspect. I just wanted to clarify. He is my friend, no matter how I treat him, and I want you to see that.”

 

The tip of Jongin’s mouth went up. “I never thought you considered Kyungsoo a friend.”

 

“Baekhyun and Chanyeol seems to like him enough. That makes him my friend.”

 

Jongin laughed airly. “Am I your friend then?”

 

Luhan’s face contorted. “Ew, no. You’ve got a long way to go buddy. Baekhyun and Chanyeol may also like you, but you’re not anywhere near my list.”

 

Jongin smirked. Luhan noticed that there was something still off with Jongin.

 

“Kim Jongin,” Luhan called. Jongin lifted his head and met Luhan’s determined eyes.

 

“If I find out what happened to Kyungsoo, I’ll make sure you’re the first one to know,” Luhan said, “but if for some retarded reason you don’t do anything, I’m going to make sure that bastard gets what he or she deserves.”

 

Jongin chuckled. “Thanks Luhan.”

 

Luhan nodded curtly as Jongin said a quickly good-bye and walked away. Luhan opened the door, shot a quick hello to his parents, and went to his room.

 

After closing the door behind him, Luhan placed the recorder on the bedside table and lied down on his bed, deep in thought.

 

So, Luhan thought, it looks like there’s another person out there who’s not watching his back as he ought to.

 

Luhan smirked.

No one ever messes with my friends and gets away with it.

Baekhyun quietly opened the door and stepped in. His parents weren’t home; they never were, so he wasn’t too surprised to see his house empty. Chanyeol was a few steps behind, and Baekhyun figured it would buy him about three minutes before Chanyeol came rushing into the house. He quickly shrugged off his shoes, closed the door behind him, and ran to his bathroom.

 

Locking the door behind him, Baekhyun closed his eyes and slumped on the floor. He was extremely stupid, and even though he had come to terms with his feelings, it didn’t make it any easier.

 

Byun Baekhyun you idiot!

 

Baekhyun had anger issues. That was never a secret. If Luhan was like a sharp shooter’s arrow, knowing exactly the opponent’s weakness and attacking them without mercy, then Baekhyun was like a volcano. When he was angry, he didn’t think. He, both literally and figuratively, exploded. He couldn’t see straight and all he saw were red and black.

 

And, after he finally calmed down, it was then when reality would finally settle in. When Baekhyun would realize how idiotic he was and how much he wanted to hit himself over and over again for letting his emotions overtake his reason. It happened all the time, yet Baekhyun still wasn’t able to control it.

 

When Baekhyun realized he had more than friendly feelings for his best friend, he knew he was doomed. He was confident that his friend, who was Park Chanyeol for heaven’s sake and was probably the most oblivious human being on the planet, would never guess that he had a crush on the taller male. However, he couldn't ensure anything when he got, well, heated. If he got angry, jealous, scared, or anything else for that matter, he couldn’t promise anything. He could be sprouting confessions to Chanyeol one minute and then getting ready to jump off the Han River in the next.

 

Baekhyun groaned and repeatedly bumped his head against the door. He couldn’t believe that he let his emotions out of control again.He knew he was being completely irrational and unfair, and felt horrible for yelling at Chanyeol when it was clearly not his fault.

 

When he heard a loud crash in the living room,Baekhyun knew Chanyeol had finally arrived. He scrambled off the floor and turned the faucet on.

 

“Baekhyun?” Baekhyun could hear Chanyeol’s voice grow louder and louder as he came closer to the bathroom door. There was a soft knock and Baekhyun slowly turned off the water.

 

“Uh, just a moment! I was washing my face.”

 

Chanyeol chuckled in his usual low tone and Baekhyun groaned inwardly.

 

“Alright, I’ll be at your room.”

 

Chanyeol’s footsteps grew fainter and Baekhyun waited by the stall for a few minutes before tentatively opening the door. Chanyeol was already gone, and Baekhyun sighed in relief before he walked into his room.

 

Baekhyun glanced at Chanyeol, who was lying on his bed with a bored look.

 

“You promised to watch the drama with me,” Baekhyun teased with a wide grin. He chuckled as he saw Chanyeol groan but bring the computer screen to the middle of the bed, clicking on one of the episodes already open on the tab.

 

“I don’t know why you enjoy this,” he muttered, “it’s not even that good.”

 

Baekhyun huffed and punched his best friend in the arm.

 

“Hey! It’s perfectly fine! You’re the one who suggested watching it in the first place, so you can’t back out now.”

 

“Well you were in a really bad mood before and I was trying to cheer you up. Now that you’re better, why don’t we just play some Sudden Attack-”

 

“Chanyeol.”Chanyeol gulped as he met Baekhyun’s sharp glare and laughed awkwardly.

 

“Okay, okay, I was just joking. Here, just turn on the episode already.”

 

Baekhyun took a seat next to Chanyeol and watched as the screen turned dim for a second before a close shot of Hyun Bin came on the scene.

 

“Oooh, I’ve been wanting to watch this episode for like forever!”

 

Chanyeol rolled his eyes and turned around to place the pillows in a comfortable position. Baekhyun nodded in appreciation and leaned backwards, Chanyeol’s arm taking its place around Baekhyun’s shoulders.

 

Baekhyun grinned softly as he watched Hyun Bin leaned forward, cupping Ha Ji Won’s cheeks with his hands and placing a soft kiss on her lips. He turned around to make a comment when he noticed Chanyeol’s drooping head.

 

Baekhyun sighed as Chanyeol’s head tilted left and slided on top of Baekhyun’s arms. With his other arm, he gently pushed Chanyeol’s head so it was placed further up.

 

“Idiot,” he whispered, before brushed Chanyeol’s bangs away from his face and draping a blanket over his body.

 

►♦►

 

Sehun was a good student, if talking strictly academically. He did his homework the day it was assigned, aced all his tests without breaking a sweat, turned his projects in perfect quality, and didn’t fool around in class. Even though he was a bit rude to the teachers, no one complained; they couldn’t, as he was so damn perfect in every thing that actually counted.

 

Sehun had heard a million times that he was the hope for this school. He was probably one of the few students who had a chance of getting into a prestigious college. The principal had called him up once to ensure that he was happy with the classes he had and to politely ask him to bring up the school’s honor by getting into Seoul’s top university.

 

Sehun, who usually would’ve remained quiet, made one small request. The principal was confused, but was more than willing to make the necessary changes.

 

He had asked to change his homeroom. To the one with a certain student named Xi Luhan.

 

Sehun, although he was silent and didn’t interact with any of his peers, was quite infamous. He knew it himself, and could clearly see all the students move away as he walked through the hallway. He wasn’t a bully, at least not in society’s standards, and he was happy to mind his own business. If anyone talked to him, he would answer in a short, curt manner, which apparently seemed extremely blunt and rude to others. He didn’t understand; he wasn’t ignoring them. He would talk if necessary. Just because he didn’t go up to others and strike up a conversation didn’t automatically make him an inconsiderate, arrogant outcast.

 

Well, to be honest, Sehun enjoyed being alone. He liked to think, and enjoyed the silence as it engulfed him. People were much too noisy and too much of a burden. He had to deal with emotions and bother himself with being polite and nice.

 

That’s why, when he first heard of a person called Xi Luhan, who apparently looked like an angel but was a terrifyingly scary bully, all he could do was scoff. He hadn’t even met the said person, but he was starting to get annoyed already.

 

He was never too fond of people in general, but people like Luhan were the worst. Those people who just couldn’t mind their own business and went around and bothered everyone else just to make themselves seem superior. It was absolutely pathetic, and he had no idea why anyone would let such a human being scare them.

 

He spent most of his lunch lying on one of the benches in the backyard reading a book. He was a bookworm, and could continue to read for hours if it was possible. However, one particular lunch, he was interrupted with a loud shout.

 

Sehun normally wouldn’t have cared, but the shouting was becoming louder and louder and Sehun found himself unable to concentrate on his novel. With a frustrated sigh, he snapped the book shut, shoved it into his bag, and went to see whatever the problem was.

 

He was greeted with a disturbing sight. When he laid eyes on a boy with dirty blonde hair, large doe like eyes, a tight and sneering jaw, and a deep scowl on his face, he immediately knew it was Luhan.

 

He should've turned away. He would have, it it was anyone else, but it was Xi Luhan, and he just couldn’t let an opportunity where he could see the said person in action pass.

 

He stood behind a tall tree and watched with interest.

 

Xi Luhan was talking, well, it was more screaming, at a boy with large glasses and a little too loose of an uniform. He looked furious, and Sehun was afraid he would end up seeing blood.

 

“-absolutely ridiculous!” Luhan screeched, his hands flailing in the air. “I don’t know why you would ever think it was a fucking good idea to mess with my friend and think you could get away-”

 

“I-it was supposed to be joke!” the boy protested, but his voice shaking. “I didn’t think it was a big deal!”

 

“Oh, god no, you did not just cut me off!”

 

Luhan grabbed the boy’s hair with a vicious sneer and slammed him down. The boy grimaced in pain as Luhan huffed in anger and glowered down.

 

“You will shut up and listen while I do the talking, understood?”

 

The boy whimpered and shrunk down as Luhan crossed his arms and muttered a string of curses.

 

“Shit, I don’t even know why I’m dealing with this fucktard,” Luhan groaned, “How many times did I tell you to mind your own fucking business!”

 

“It’s not my fault your friend is a fag-”

 

This time, Luhan wasn’t so merciful. Sehun gaped as Luhan’s eyes twitched for a split second before his leg flew forwards, kicking the boy’s stomach with enough force to send the boy sliding across the concrete ground.

 

“I dare you to say that one more time.”

 

The boy groaned and limped backwards. Luhan’s eyes narrowed and he walked forwards, stopping just a few centimeters from the boy.

 

“You,sir,” Luhan sneered, “are a pathetic, attention seeking whore who’s also apparently extremely stupid and doesn’t know when to shut up.”

 

Luhan placed his foot on the boy’s throat and pressed down, watching as the boy’s face turned pale and began coughing.

 

“If I hear you call Byun Baekhyun that word or even remotely suggest it one more time, I’ll make sure to rip your fingers off one by one and chug it down the toilet, got it?”

 

The boy managed to nod in between his desperate gasps for breath. Luhan glared at the boy for a while before slowly removing his foot.

 

Sehun watched as the boy took a deep breath and slowly began to stand up. Luhan, who was already faced the other way, suddenly whipped around and slammed his foot down on the boy’s stomach once more.

 

“And that was for calling Chanyeol a revolting idiot for sticking up for Baekhyun.”

 

Sehun had to keep himself from bursting out in laughter as the boy sprawled against the floor and Luhan smirked in satisfaction as he walked away.

 

So that’s what Xi Luhan’s like

 

Sehun glanced at the groaning boy a final time before taking his previous seat on the bench in the backyard. He smirked as he thought about what he just had seen.

 

“How scary,” Sehun mused quietly as he flipped open to a page in the book. Luhan hummed quietly as he strolled down the hallway. The students naturally parted in the middle, and everyone stared at Luhan’s wide grin as they whispered amongst themselves.

 

When he finally reached his locker, he quickly spun the lock a few times, kicked the edge of the door to give it a final push, and pulled it open. He managed to catch a falling book in time and shoved it back all with an uncharacteristic smile.

 

“Someone’s in a good mood.”

 

Luhan looked out of the corner of his eyes to see Baekhyun leaning on a locker besides him, his face shadowed with a dark look.

 

“And someone’s apparently not,” Luhan mused, shuffling through his locker for his emergency supply of gummy worms.

 

Baekhyun shot Luhan a quick glare before taking a gummy worm and plopping it into his mouth.

 

“God, I needed something sweet in my life,” Baekhyun grumbled, before nodding in a lazy fashion and walking away. Luhan quirked an eyebrow and stared at his friend’s retreating figure.

 

Luhan closed the locker shut, shoved the pack of gummy worms into his pocket, and was about to turn and go to his next class when he bumped into something hard and winced at the sudden impact.

 

“Ow, what the hell?” Luhan muttered before glaring up at Sehun.

 

“You ran off,” Sehun said, his voice calm and flat, “when I clearly warned you not to.”

 

“When have I ever listened to you?” Luhan snorted.

 

Sehun massaged his temples and closed his eyes, looking like he was about to have a headache.

 

“We’re not even remotely finished with our project. We’ll have to meet again, thanks to you.”

 

“What?! I’m not going to freaking meet with you again! That’s ridiculous.”

 

“Unless you want to get an F, you have no other choice.”

 

Without giving Luhan a chance to retort, Sehun ripped a piece of paper out of his notebook and scribbled something down. He shoved it in Luhan’s hands with an irritated frown.

 

“You can choose the place,” he said, “preferably somewhere relatively quiet and hard to run away from.”

 

With that, Sehun pushed past Luhan and disappeared from view. Luhan stared blankly at the paper in his hands before tentatively opening it.

 

Tuesday, right after school.

 

“FUCK!” Luhan screamed and threw the paper on the ground, grinding it to the floor with his foot before storming away.

 

►♦►

 

Chanyeol grinned widely for the upteenth time that day as he quickly typed a reply to a text he just received. It was from Mihye, the girl he met a couple of days ago in the grocery store. The day after Baekhyun slept over, Chanyeol rushed to the grocery store and luckily found her roaming at the back looking for some cereal. He had talked to her for a good hour before exchanging phone numbers.

 

Since that day, Chanyeol spent nearly all day texting the said girl. He found himself falling more and more for her. She was not only extremely kind and pretty, but also had a great sense of humor.

 

Chanyeol heard a loud thump and quickly raised his head to see that Baekhyun had slumped into a seat besides him. Baekhyun smiled at him in a tired manner before glancing at the phone in his hands.

 

“Mihye?” Baekhyun asked.

 

“Yup,” Chanyeol answered. His face brightened when his phone vibrated and laughed out loud when he read the text.

 

“Sounds like she’s a lot of fun,” Baekhyun muttered. Chanyeol hummed in reply and leaned forwards, biting his lip as he pondered on what to type back.

 

►♦►

 

It was the class right before lunch, and Luhan was doing what he always did in class: daydream. Luckily he didn’t have to go through the torture of Algebra today, but was instead left with diagrams of DNA that he had absolutely no idea about.

 

Luhan stared at the blank sheet of paper on his desk, which he figured he was supposed to have filled out about 15 minutes ago. He shrugged and rolled it into a tiny ball, deciding it would be of much better use to use it to bother a friend.

 

Baekhyun was currently seated about two rows in front of Luhan’s.  From his hunched shoulders and drooping head, it was obvious that the shorter male was fast asleep. The biology teacher had given up on the boy a long time ago, something that their homeroom teacher Mr.Cho still was unable to do.

 

Checking to see that the biology teacher was turned away, Luhan smirked and threw the paper ball towards his friend. It hit the back of his neck, but Baekhyun didn’t budge. Luhan’s smirk turned into a frown when he realized his plan had failed. Baekhyun’s deskmate stared at the roll of paper on the floor before turning around and looking at Luhan.

 

Luhan met the boy’s eyes and the latter immediately cowered away, terrified at the thought of having to deal with him. Luhan rolled his eyes and pointed at the roll of paper, signaling to throw it back. The boy leaned down tentatively and picked it up, tossing it in Luhan’s direction.

 

Luhan grabbed the ball mid-air and this time, with much force, spiked it towards Baekhyun’s head. Baekhyun’s head was knocked forwards and he sprung up, an irritated frown on his face.

 

“Alright, Xi Luhan, it’s not funny!” Baekhyun bellowed and glowered at Luhan, who had a cheeky smile plastered on his face.

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Baekhyun.”   “You can really stop fucking with me here.”

 

“I don’t know-”

 

“Luhan!”

 

The biology teacher looked stunned at Baekhyun’s sudden screech, and the rest of the students gulped at the sudden silence.

 

“Geez, someone’s extra sensitive today.”

 

Baekhyun groaned, grabbed his bag off the desk, and stomped out of the classroom. Luhan stared at his best friend and grinned.

 

“You can continue with your lesson,” Luhan said to the teacher, who still looked baffled by the whole situation. He cleared his throat and turned back to the board.

 

The bell rang soon enough, and Luhan didn’t waste a minute. He dashed out of the classroom and ran to the one place he knew Baekhyun would be at: the music room. He ignored all the looks he received and made a beeline to the very end of the building.

 

When Luhan opened the door to the music room, sure enough, he found Baekhyun pressing the piano keys with a tired look. He closed the door behind him and plopped down on a cushion beside Baekhyun.

 

“Hey,” Luhan said, “you ran off back there.”

 

Baekhyun’s fingers paused and he gave a small sigh.

 

“Luhan, I’m not in the mood to argue with you right now.”

 

“I wasn’t trying to argue,” Luhan protested, “I was stating a fact.”

 

“Luhan.”

 

Luhan grinned widely and sat up straight.

 

“Why are you so grumpy? It’s not because of me, is it?”

 

Baekhyun didn’t reply.

 

“Because if it is because of me, I should be cheering my ass off for finally pushing Byun Baekhyun to his limit.”

 

Baekhyun slammed the piano lid down and whipped around, glaring at Luhan with all the anger he had bottled up inside of him.

 

“You know what? Xi Luhan you’re a fucking jerk with absolutely zero consideration for anybody else. I don’t even know why I’m still friends with you.”

 

Baekhyun was about to stand up and walk out when Luhan grabbed his hand and pulled him back into his seat.

 

“Okay, I definitely know why you’re pissed now,” Luhan said, “it’s because of Chanyeol isn’t it?”

 

Baekhyun turned beat red and went rigid.

 

“Of course not!”

 

“Baekhyun, don’t even try.”

 

Baekhyun looked flustered and at loss of words. Luhan smirked and crossed his arms together.

 

“What did Park Chanyeol do this time?”

 

“H-he didn’t do anything.”

 

“Baekh-”

 

“No, I’m serious. He didn’t do anything.”

 

Luhan’s smirk was immediately wiped off and a frown replaced it.

 

“What happened? Tell me.”

 

Baekhyun groaned and he grabbed a fistfull of his hair in frustration. Luhan was taken back - no matter how angry and frustrated Baekhyun got, he never messed with his hair.

 

“I’m so stupid,” Baekhyun muttered, “I’m getting pissed off at Chanyeol for no reason. He didn’t do anything wrong, but I just can’t handle it.”

 

Luhan opened his mouth but was cut off.

 

“He was with a girl, Luhan. A pretty one at that. Hell, she was gorgeous. Exactly Chanyeol’s type. And then I got all riled up and exploded on Chanyeol. I know I shouldn’t have, but before I knew it my mouth was open and my eyes were all fired up and Chanyeol was just standing there with his usual confused look and oh god, all I wanted to do was punch myself in the face. Luhan, what am I going to do.”

 

Baekhyun choked on his words and buried his face in his hands. Luhan sat there for a moment before leaning forwards and wrapping his arms around his best friend.

 

“I tried to pretend like nothing happened. I watched dramas with him all night and laughed at those stupid jokes he makes but he knows something’s wrong with me now and it’s a matter of time before he finally gets it and-”

 

“It’s okay, Baekhyun,” Luhan whispered, “It’s not your fault.”

 

“Hah, that’s likely. Then he just goes off and meets her again and I tried to seem nonchalant about the whole thing but fuck, who am I kidding. He spends hours texting her and he has the hugest grin on his stupid face and I’m just standing there wondering why I can’t make him happy as she does.”

 

Baekhyun sighed deeply.

 

“I need some help,” he muttered, "or else Chanyeol is going find out."

 

Luhan chuckled quietly. “That’s not going to happen. And even if he was about to, I’m not going to just stand there and watch you guys fall apart.”

 

Baekhyun took a deep breath and looked up.

 

“Thanks Luhan. I didn’t mean what I said earlier, although you were being extremely annoying.”

 

Luhan laughed and shrugged nonchalantly.

 

“I don’t care. I knew something was wrong and figured the only way you would tell me anything is if I pestered you until you finally gave in.”

 

Baekhyun quirked an eyebrow.   “Jerk.”

 

“Brat,” Luhan snapped back. The two boys laughed for a short moment.

 

“So Baek,” Luhan said, “are you feeling any better? I know I always am after I rant to someone.”

 

Baekhyun bit his lips and closed his eyes.

 

“Yeah, I think I am.”

 

Luhan stood up and he swung his bag over his shoulder.

 

“Well, if that’s the case,” he said, “let’s go to lunch. Chanyeol will be probably wondering where we are at.”

 

Baekhyun nodded and slowly stood up.

 

“Yeah, we don’t want to keep that idiot waiting.”

 

Luhan grinned and nudged Baekhyun in a playful way as they walked towards the other end of the school building.When Chanyeol first went into the cafeteria and found none of his friends there, he wasn’t very surprised. Baekhyun and Luhan both had biology the period before, where they usually fell asleep and found themselves in the principal’s office too often for their liking. Chanyeol was used to spending the first 10 to 20 minutes by himself, but always purchased Luhan’s lunch in advance so the said male wouldn’t have to stand in line. Baekhyun brought his own lunch, so that wasn’t a problem.

 

He had gone straight to their empty table at the back corner of the cafeteria. He quickly dumped his books and bag on his seat and hurried to the lunch line. After purchasing two lunches, he scrambled back to the table and set one across from him and the other in front of his own seat. He sat down and was about to start eating when he saw Jongin and Kyungsoo walk over and sit down.

 

“Hey,” Jongin grunted, and Kyungsoo offered him a timid smile before taking his seat. Chanyeol beamed back at them and was about to reply when he felt his phone vibrate.

 

“Uh, wait a minute,” Chanyeol held a finger out and took his phone out. He grinned and typed a reply. Jongin quirked an eyebrow and shared looks with Kyungsoo, who was taking two large lunch boxes out of his bag.

 

“Here Jong,” Kyungsoo said as he opened the lid for both and spread them on the table. Jongin grabbed a pair of chopsticks and scanned the homemade meal.

 

“Bulgogi and egg rolls?” Jongin said with a grin, “I freaking adore you Kyung.”

 

Kyungsoo blushed brightly and watched as Jongin began to devour his food. Chanyeol looked up in time and watched their interactions with a sly smirk.

 

“You make him lunch?” he asked. Kyungsoo’s eyes widened in surprise.

 

“Y-yeah. Sometimes. Jongin’s a picky eater, and I love to cook, so whenever I have the time I cook for him.”

 

Jongin took another bite of the lunch, hummed in pleasure, and went back for another bite. Kyungsoo looked as the taller male ate with a proud smile. Chanyeol suddenly remembered that his own lunch was turning cold and returned his gaze to it when he realized that it had been already 30 minutes since lunch started.

 

“Do you guys know where Baekhyun and Luhan are?”

 

Kyungsoo frowned slightly and bit his lips. “Sorry, I didn’t see them all day.”

 

Chanyeol looked at Jongin, but the latter was too busy eating to pay any attention to what Chanyeol was asking.

 

With a deep frown, Chanyeol scrolled down in his phone to call Baekhyun when he caught his two friends walking towards him. He put down his phone and gave them a puzzled look as they took their respective seats.

 

“You’re late,” Chanyeol said, “did you guys get detentions again?”

 

“Nope,” Luhan piped up. He settled happily in his seat and smiled cheekily. Chanyeol folded his hands and looked at him suspiciously, but soon turned his head when Baekhyun cleared his throat.

 

“It was nothing,” Baekhyun said, “I just had to ask Luhan something really quick.”

 

“Uhuh,” Chanyeol mumbled, clearly not convinced. Luhan shrugged his shoulders and looked down at his plate, scrunched his nose in disgust, but nevertheless began to eat. Baekhyun took out his own lunchbox and took a bite of his salad.

 

“So Luhan, did Sehun confront you yet about you ditching him?”

 

Luhan, who was in the process of drinking milk, coughed violently and quickly dragged his sleeve across his mouth while glaring at Chanyeol. Baekhyun turned towards Luhan with a deadly look.

 

“You ditched Sehun?” Baekhyun seethed, “Luhan! You promised!”

 

“I didn’t promise anything,” Luhan shot back, “and besides. He was being an annoying brat.”

 

Kyungsoo suddenly looked up and stared at the trio with a surprised look.

 

“You met with Sehun?”

 

Baekhyun crossed his arms and huffed in disapproval.

 

“Yes. I made him. And apparently he ditched the guy.”

 

“Like I said, Oh Sehun was being annoyi-”   "Please just shut up.”

 

Luhan scoffed and leaned back in his chair, sulking quietly as Baekhyun fumed.

 

“What were you thinking? I bet you guys aren’t even closed to finishing this project. You do know that you have to meet him again, right?”

 

“At this point, I really don’t care if I fail this project or not.”

 

Chanyeol laughed quietly as Baekhyun whipped around with pure distaste written on his face.

 

“Luhan! You are not going to fail because you’re refusing to cooperate with Sehun. I’m going to make sure of that.”

 

At that moment, Baekhyun caught sight of Sehun walking across the cafeteria with a bored look on his face. He stood up, surprising everyone at the table.

 

“Yah! Oh Sehun!”

 

Sehun paused in his step and stared at Baekhyun, raising both eyebrows.

 

“Come here for a sec,” Baekhyun said and motioned him over. Sehun seemed to be in some kind of dilemma, wondering if it was really safe to listen to Baekhyun. Finally, with much reluctance, he slowly made his way over to the table.

 

“I heard,” Baekhyun pointed at a extremely pissed off Luhan, “that this guy ditched you last meeting, am I correct?”

 

Sehun frowned. “Yes, but what has it got to do with you?”

 

“I have a proposal to make.”

 

Baekhyun smiled slyly as he leaned forward. Chanyeol stared at his best friend with anticipation, while Sehun’s frown deepened even further.

 

“And what might that be?”

 

“I’m guessing you guys have to meet again to finish planning your project.”

 

Luhan made a strange noise from behind, but both Baekhyun and Sehun ignored it.

 

“I, as Xi Luhan’s best friend, am courtly inviting you over to Luhan’s house this weekend.”

 

Jongin, who was eating the whole time, suddenly choked on his food and dropped his spoon. Kyungsoo’s jaw dropped open and Chanyeol blinked, making sure he heard the right thing. Luhan went bright red before slapping Baekhyun’s head.

 

“You idiot! You do not have the right to invite this bastard over to my house.”

 

“I’m your best friend. I kinda do.”

 

Sehun shifted awkwardly and stared as the two friends argued.

 

“Sehun!” Baekhyun suddenly exclaimed, directing his glare at the younger male’s direction, “You are going to come, right?”

 

Sehun quirked an eyebrow.

 

“Um, I don’t see why I need to go through the trouble of going to his hous-”

 

“Yah. Oh Sehun.”

 

Baekhyun’s voice dropped a couple of octaves and Sehun swore he saw the shorter guy growl. With a defeated sigh, he muttered in a quiet voice.

 

“Yeah, sure. Why not.”

 

“Yay!” Baekhyun suddenly sat up and clapped his hands together. His hands turned into two crescent moons. “Problem solved!”

 

“No! No problem solved!” Luhan shouted. “It’s my house! I should get a say in this.”

 

Chanyeol sent Luhan a pitiful look.

 

“Just give up Luhan.”

 

Luhan gawked as Sehun nodded curtly at the boys at the table and walked out of the cafeteria. Baekhyun turned around and grinned at Luhan.

 

“I just saved your ass.”

 

Luhan groaned and shot Baekhyun a final glare before standing up and running after Sehun.

 

►♦►

 

“Yah! Yah, Oh Sehun!”

 

Sehun turned around at someone calling his name and looked genuinely taken aback when he saw Luhan running towards him.

 

Luhan grabbed Sehun’s shoulders and pushed the boy against a random locker. Sehun winced at the sudden impact but soon returned to his usual poker face.

 

“You’re not really going to come to my house are you?”

 

Sehun sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

 

“Look, if you didn’t want me to come then you could’ve said earlier when your friend was basically threatening me.”

 

“You can’t!”

 

Sehun scoffed at the sudden outburst. “You brought this on yourself. You’re the one who ditched me in the first place.”

 

Luhan’s eyes narrowed viciously. “That has nothing to do with this.”

 

Suddenly, a small cough was heard and the two boys turned to see a girl in the grade below pass them with a red blush across her cheeks. Luhan then seemed to realize his position and quickly sprang back, releasing Sehun from his grip.

 

“Even if you do come,” Luhan said after making sure the girl had left, “I’m not going to open the door.”

 

Sehun cocked his head and shook his head in defeat.

 

“I’m sure your friend is going to do that for you.”

 

Sehun took a quick glance at his watch and walked away. Luhan gaped at his retreating figure for the second time that day and began to regret helping Baekhyun with his heartbreak.

 

►♦►

 

Kyungsoo stared at the clock on the wall, bit his lips nervously, and slowly turned his chair to face Jongin who was currently eating a snack while lying on the shorter male’s bed.

 

“Jongin. What’s smoking like?”

 

Jongin choked on the piece of watermelon he was eating and turned around to face Kyungsoo.

 

“H-how am I supposed to know?!”

 

Kyungsoo blinked. “Well, I kind of assumed you smoke.”

 

“No! No, I definitely do not smoke. When did I ever smell like cigars?” Jongin spluttered in defense.

 

Kyungsoo leaned back in his chair. “I suppose. You just seemed like the type to.”

 

“Do Kyungsoo!”

 

Kyungsoo smiled and laughed. “I’m just joking, Jong.”

 

Jongin narrowed his eyes and sat up slowly, pushing his plate of watermelons to the side.

 

“Why did you ask anyways?” He asked, suspicious, “you’re not considering it, are you?”

 

“Of course I’m not!” Kyungsoo exclaimed, as if the idea was absurd, “you know I would never do that.”

 

Jongin continued to stare at the shorter male. Kyungsoo held his stare before finally sighing in defeat.

 

“I only asked because I saw a couple of guys from our grade smoking. I was just curious. It’s not a very healthy choice, is it?”

 

“Of course not,” Jongin muttered.

 

“Then why would they do such a thing?”

 

Jongin frowned and brushed his bangs out of his eyes.

 

“I guess it’s a form of stress relief,” he replied, “either that, or they think it’s a cool thing to do.”

 

“That’s rather stupid, isn’t it?”

 

Kyungsoo sat quietly before turning his chair and facing the desk once more. He picked his european history textbook and began to read once more. Jongin, who continued to stare at his friend, looked troubled.

 

“Kyung.”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Is there something wrong? Something that you aren’t telling me about.”

 

Jongin saw Kyungsoo visibly stiffen. The shorter male laughed out loud, but Jongin swore he saw his voice shaking.

 

“There’s nothing wrong with me,” Kyungsoo replied quietly, “nothing to worry about. Just go back to the movie, will you?”

 

Jongin knew of Kyungsoo’s stubbornness, and decided that he would get nothing out of the latter. He picked up another piece of watermelon, looked at Kyungsoo’s hunched up back with a frown, and returned his gaze to the TV screen.  The week passed by faster that Luhan would’ve liked, and soon enough, it was Friday. Normally he would’ve been ecstatic. Friday meant no school for two whole days, which also meant two whole days of sleeping until noon and playing Starcraft for 8 hours straight. It was beautiful to even think about, and he would’ve been happy, had it not been for his good for nothing friend Baekhyun.

 

Byun Baekhyun, who was stupid enough to think it was a good idea to invite Oh Sehun to his house. Oh Sehun. The same kid everyone called the ‘Untouchable.’ The same kid who called him a bitch the moment they met, and the same kid Luhan had an unreasonable hatred towards.

 

Luhan wondered why Oh Sehun couldn’t be as “Untouchable” to his own friends as he seemed to be to the rest of the student population.

 

Moreover, Luhan wondered why he couldn’t have nice, normal friends.

 

“I hate my life,” Luhan groaned as he repeatedly banged his head against the desk, “I hate my life. I hate my life. I hate my life.”

 

Baekhyun peaked over the magazine he was reading and looked at Luhan with an annoyed look.

 

“Will you please stop? I don’t think your head needs more damage than it already has.”

 

“I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.”

 

Baekhyun rolled his eyes and placed the magazine on his lap.

 

“Just stop moping, for gods sake. You’ve been doing that ever since I talked to Sehun about this weekend.”

 

Luhan lifted his head slightly and glared at his best friend.

 

“I hate you.”

 

With a sigh, Baekhyun crossed his arm and dead panned.

 

“Yes, I think we already established that a long time ago.”

 

“You invited my worst enemy over to my house! I think I have the right to be moping!”

 

“Don’t be so overdramatic, Luhan.”

 

Luhan groaned once more and returned his previous act of banging his head, ignoring Baekhyun’s look of distaste.

 

“Hey guys.”

 

Baekhyun looked up to see Kyungsoo walk over. He took a seat besides Baekhyun and smiled timidly. Sparing a glance at the back of Luhan’s head, he shot Baekhyun a curious look.

 

“Sehun,” Baekhyun replied, and Kyungsoo’s eyes widened and he nodded in understanding. They heard Luhan moan again at the name and Kyungsoo bit his lip in time to keep himself from laughing.

 

“I’m sure things will be fine,” Kyungsoo said and smiled warily at Luhan, “Sehun is intimidating, but you’re going to be able to handle him fine, aren’t you?”

 

“Sehun? Intimidating? That is not the problem right now,” Luhan snapped and lifted his head, glaring at Kyungsoo, “the problem is that I truthfully loathe him!”

 

Baekhyun sighed. “This is getting seriously repetitive. Boring, actually.”

 

“Yet you just can’t seem to comprehend that simple fact!”

 

Luhan coiled his hand into a fist and banged it on the desk, shocking Kyungsoo and a couple of students sitting around them. Baekhyun simply looked at Luhan, unamused. His eyes hardened, and Kyungsoo shifted awkwardly in his seat as the air around them darkened.

 

“Luhan, it’s time to grow up. You’re not always going to be meeting people who either click with you really well at the first moment or people who are terrified of you. There are going to be people who, to be honest, will not give a fuck about who you are and what you want. That happens to be Oh Sehun. So before you go into the adult world and find yourself extremely excluded and pathetic, I advise you to man it up and deal it with him.”

 

After a brief pause and a glance at Luhan’s blank face, Baekhyun continued.

 

“And for the record, I called you a bitch the first moment I met you. But that didn’t make you hate my guts, did it? Your hatred and annoyance towards Sehun is completely unfounded. All he did was state an obvious fact, which you have been aware of for years. Be honest with yourself. It’s not what he did that pissed you off. It’s who he is. Oh Sehun, the only other person who can possibly be as intimidating as you are. He’s the one who has an invisible barrier around himself and pushes away anyone who comes near it. But you can’t stand that, can you?”

 

A few students glanced at the trio nervously as they slowly stood up and went out of the classroom. Nobody wanted to intervene, and it was only natural to give them some time of their own, even if it was ten minutes before class.

 

“The moment Chanyeol told you about who he was, you were intrigued by Sehun. You roam around this school like you own the place. You won’t take no for an answer from anybody and will do anything to put someone in their rightful place if they dare to confront you. Sehun, in your mind, is like any other student in this school. He doesn’t have the right to stand on par with you, so you just try to push him down to where you see fit. Let me be brutally honest with you, because I’m your best friend and I think it’s time for you to know the truth. I love you, I really do, but there are times I look at you and wish you would just open your eyes for a second. You’re not a tyrant, Luhan, and you never will be. Chanyeol and I won’t let you, no matter how much you try. So please, for once in your lifetime, will you just step out of your head and see the world as it really is?”

 

Luhan blinked slowly and stared at Baekhyun's unusually stern look. It wasn’t everyday Baekhyun was this serious, but whenever he was, it wasn’t a very good sign. It meant that something was terribly wrong, and that Luhan had better start changing because he was fucking things up. Baekhyun was known for his brutal honesty, never beating around the bush or doing unnecessary mumblings. Luhan had always appreciated that particular trait of

Baekhyun, but at the moment, he was having a hard time coming to terms with what he had just heard.

 

“Luhan,” Baekhyun called, his eyes softening a bit, “I’m not trying to hurt you. I’m not saying you’re a horrible person either. You’re not. I know you better than anyone else in the world, and you’re seriously the best friend someone could have. I know what your heart is like. But your head. That’s what messing things up. You’ve got to change, Luhan. Please.”

 

Kyungsoo stared at the two friend, conflicted. It was the first time he saw them this serious, and he felt like he was listening to a very private conversation. Picking his nails in a nervous matter, he looked at Luhan, whose face was shadowed with a dark look.

 

“I’m not mad,” Luhan suddenly said, “I guess I was expecting this. Was I that obvious?”

 

Baekhyun had a bitter smile and shook his head.

 

“No. It’s just that you’re like an open book for me and Chanyeol.”

 

Luhan quirked an eyebrow. “Chanyeol knows?”

 

“We talked about it a few days ago. I said I would confront you about it, because he was too scared of hurting your feelings.”

 

Luhan laughed airly. “Is that so? How thoughtful of him.”

 

“Luha-”

 

“No, it’s my turn to speak. I didn’t think I was that easy to read. It’s not what Sehun did that really pissed me off. It’s like what you said: I’ve heard it a million times before, especially from you guys. Sure, it ticked me off when I heard it come out from a guy I just met, but I got over it soon enough. But the more I thought about it, the more and more fired I got. I’m Xi Luhan. Everyone is supposed to be afraid of me unless I allow something else. And suddenly Oh Sehun shows up and stares me in the eyes, snapping back at me and unwilling to step down. He was a stray from the clear and perfect social structure I established at this school.”

 

Baekhyun put a hand on Luhan’s shoulders, looking at his dark eyes.

 

“You’re not going to be pushing away anyone else from now on,” Baekhyun said, a tight smile on his lips, “and you’re starting with Sehun.”

 

“I’m not going to be nice to him, if that’s what you’re implying,” Luhan snapped, “Sehun is still an annoying bastard, and nothing changes the fact that he dislikes me as much as I dislike him. I’ll stop whining about meeting him, but I’m not going to happy about it, got it?”

 

Kyungsoo laughed quietly and Baekhyun shook his head in both defeat and amusement.

 

“I guess that’s an improvement,” Baekhyun said, and gave a small wink to Kyungsoo who smiled back in return.

 

►♦►

 

It was already noon on a rainy Saturday, and Chanyeol mumbled quietly as he stared out the window, looking for any sign of Sehun.

 

“I don’t think he’s coming,” Chanyeol said as he turned around and faced the other boys in the living room, “it’s been at least 40 minutes, hasn’t it?”

 

“He is going to come,” Baekhyun said sternly as he leaned back in the sofa, taking a handful of nachos from the bowl in Kyungsoo’s lap, “he promised.”

 

Luhan quirked an eyebrow and stared at Baekhyun with light humor dancing in his eyes.

 

“You know him that well to be able to judge his character? What makes you think Oh Sehun is going to keep that promise?”

 

“I just know,alright?”

 

Chanyeol shared a look with Luhan as he took his seat next to Jongin. Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Luhan had a tradition in which they would always have a sleepover at one of their houses on fridays unless there was some kind of important test coming up. This time, the trio decided to sleep over at Luhan’s house, and woke up earlier to greet Sehun. However, the younger had still not arrived, and they were all running out of patience. Kyungsoo and Jongin both arrived a while ago, Kyungsoo beaming brightly and wanting to join in on the fun and Jongin grumbling quietly from behind. They were all currently seated in the living room, watching some random channel on the television and waiting for a certain junior.

 

“If I had to go through that lecture from Baekhyun for nothing, I’m going to kill him,” Luhan mumbled, only to be glared at by Baekhyun.

 

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and three boys sprang out of their seats. Luhan slumped down on his seat and rolled his eyes as Jongin laughed quietly. Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol all raced to the front door and swung open the door, eyes glistening with anticipation.

 

“Sehun!” Baekhyun exclaimed. Sehun’s stony expression didn’t change as he stood still in the pouring rain, his bangs sticking to his forehead.

 

“Sorry, I was caught in the rain,” he said while nodding curtly at the three boys, “and I didn’t have an umbrella.”

 

“You poor thing,” Baekhyun cooed as he grabbed Sehun’s arm and dragged him in. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo followed, ignoring the look of panic on Sehun’s face.

 

“Luhan,” Baekhyun said as he pushed Sehun down on the sofa. Luhan frowned as he saw water drip from Sehun to the sofa, leaving a small stain. “Go get Sehun a towel.”

 

“You want me to what?” Luhan gawked, pointing a finger at himself, “you want me to get him a towel?!”

 

“Yes, probably before Sehun soaks the rest of your precious sofa.”

 

With much reluctance and a short glare at Sehun who was looking blankly ahead, he dragged himself off the seat and went to the bathroom. Grabbing the girliest towel he could find, he went back to the living room and threw a hot pink hello kitty towel in Sehun’s direction, who stared at it as it fell on his lap.

 

“Thought it would match you,” Luhan said in a sweet tone and watched Chanyeol gag out of the corner of his eyes. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo stared at Sehun expectantly, waiting for him to pick up the towel. Sehun’s eyes traveled up and glanced briefly at Luhan’s wide grin as he slowly picked up the hot pink towel and began to dry his hair.

 

“Thanks,” he grunted. He managed to dry himself off as quick as possible and tried to stand up when he saw a small frown make its way on Baekhyun’s face.

 

“No, this isn’t right,” Baekhyun muttered, “wait here.”

 

Five pairs of eyes stared as the short brunette sauntered off. After a few minutes, he returned with a neatly folded shirt and pants in his hands, face smiling proudly.

 

“Here, wear this.”

 

Luhan’s eyes widened and he stepped forward, snatching the clothing away from Baekhyun.

 

“What the heck, these are mine!”

 

Baekhyun crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes dangerously.

 

“Sehun’s wet, Luhan. You can’t just leave him like this. He might catch a cold!”

 

“And you’re saying I should let him,” Luhan pointed an accusing finger at Sehun, “wear my clothes?! Baekhyun I think that’s going a little overboard. I’m sure Sehun will feel uncomfortable too.” Luhan turned around and met Sehun’s eyes, urging him to agree.

 

“Actually, I wouldn’t mind. I’m really cold and I would love to change into some new clothes.”

 

“Then it’s decided,” Baekhyun bit his lips to keep in the laughter as he quickly took the clothes away from Luhan’s hanging hands and gave it to Sehun, “the bathroom’s on the right.”

 

Sehun nodded in appreciation and Luhan swore he saw amusement in his eyes as he closed the bathroom door behind him.

 

“Well, this is interesting,” Jongin finally spoke, his tone filled with sarcasm, “and as much as I would like to stay, I’m afraid Kyungsoo and I have something planned.”

 

Kyungsoo looked at Jongin, his eyes widened in surprise.

 

“We do?”

 

“Yes, we do.”

 

Kyungsoo opened his mouth to retort but before he could get anything out, Jongin stood up and grabbed the shorter’s wrist, pulling him with him.

 

“Have fun, Luhan,” Jongin said with a smirk and Kyungsoo awkwardly waved at him before the front door was slammed shut. Chanyeol stared at the closed door before turning slowly towards Baekhyun.

 

“Hey Baek, didn’t you say you wanted to go to that mall downtown?”

 

“I believe I did,” Baekhyun and Chanyeol shared a look before smiling. Chanyeol picked up Baekhyun’s cardigan and draped it over the brunette’s shoulders.

 

“Wait what?” Luhan exclaimed, “you guys can’t leave!”

 

Baekhyun and Chanyeol both blinked in unison. “Why not?”

 

Luhan leaned forward. “Oh Sehun’s still here,” he sneered, “you can’t leave me with him!”

 

“This is your project, not ours,” Chanyeol snorted, “we just wanted to make sure you let him in.”

 

“Guys, I told you I’m not going to start being nice to him! If this is one of your ridiculous plans to get me to change, I’m telling you beforehand it’s not going to work.”

 

“At least try,will you?” Baekhyun pleaded before linking arms with Chanyeol, “we have things to do, Luhan. Things that do not involve you. You go have lots of fun with Sehun, ok?”

 

“No, I will not have tons of fun with Oh Seh-”

 

Chanyeol waved his hand dismissively as the two walked towards the front door. They gave Luhan a last encouraging grin before closing the door behind them. Luhan froze, gaping at the door, when he heard another door creak open and Sehun walk out of the bathroom.

 

Sehun stood still, glancing at the suddenly empty living room.

 

“Everyone left already?” Sehun asked. Luhan groaned and slumped down on the floor, wrapping his head with his arms.

This was going to be a long day

The living room was filled with an eerie silence and Sehun shifted in his feet, staring at the back of Luhan’s head. The older was still on the ground, muttering incoherent things.

 

“Hey,” Sehun cleared his throat, “are you done yet?”

 

Luhan lifted his head silently and suddenly stood up, surprising Sehun.

 

“What am I doing? This is my house. I’m obviously the one in control. I don’t have to freak out,” Luhan snapped at himself. He lifted his head and met Sehun’s eyes with a determined look.

 

“Well, you aren’t going to just stand there for the rest of the day, are you?” Luhan spat, “you came to do the project, so let’s get started. Follow.”

 

Sehun scoffed at Luhan’s change in behavior, but nonetheless followed him upstairs. Luhan led him down a small hallway and pushed open a door, revealing a room. It was obviously Luhan’s, Sehun thought, as it was undeniably messy and exactly what he imagined it to be. With a small smirk, he closed the door behind him and watched as Luhan threw himself on the bed.

 

“You can find papers and stuff in the drawer over there,” Luhan pointed a lazy finger at the desk. Sehun quirked an eyebrow as the elder rolled over and stuffed his head in the pillow, a small frown plastered on his face.

 

“I take it that you aren’t going to be working on this with me?” he asked. He was met with a short nod. Eyes hardening, Sehun walked over and stared at Luhan before climbing on top of the bed and lying besides him.

 

Luhan felt the bed dip and turned around. He let out of high pitched scream when he was met with Sehun’s face only a few centimeters away from his own.

 

“What the fuck?!” Luhan yelled, immediately springing up. Sehun sat up with a deep sigh and ran his hand through his hair. “What are you doing in my bed?!”

 

“I thought I’d wait until you decided to start working.”

 

“In my bed?!” Luhan seethed. He stretched his hands and pushed Sehun off the bed, watching as the younger male fell on the ground with a painful bump.

 

“That was uncalled for!” Sehun bellowed, and Luhan noticed that it was the first time he actually heard Sehun lose his cool.

 

“You’re the one who climbed onto my bed!” Luhan snapped back, “seriously, what the heck is wrong with you?”

 

Sehun scoffed as he massaged his throbbing head. “Stop pretending to be a prude, Luhan.”

 

“I’m not being a prude!”

 

Sehun winced at the high pitched screech. Luhan’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he slowly reached for the nearest pillow and swung it in Sehun’s direction. It hit him square in the face and once again, Sehun found himself hitting the floor.

 

“This project better be worth this crap,” Sehun snarled as he grabbed the pillow off his face and slammed it down the floor, “all I want to do is finish this project. Will you please cooperate?”

 

“I would’ve before you decided it was a good idea to lie down next to me.”

 

“Really? You’re trying to make this my fault?”

 

Luhan crossed his arms and huffed in annoyance. “It is your fault.”

 

Sehun decided that he finally had enough and stomped over to the bed. He grabbed Luhan’s arm and dragged him off the bed. Luhan’s eyes widened for a split second before he tried to get away, but Sehun successfully pushed him onto a chair and took his seat besides him.

 

“It’s either this,” Sehun threatened as he turned the chair around and made Luhan face the table, “or we take a pleasant nap together. Which one?”

 

“I’m not going to sleep with you!” Luhan shouted, banging the table with his fist, “since when were you such a pervert?”

 

“I’m not being a pervert. I’m being smart and efficient,” Sehun shot back before taking his seat next to Luhan, “besides, if I didn’t do what I did then you would still be in that bed.”

 

Luhan closed his eyes and frowned.

 

“I’m getting a headache,” he moaned. Sehun looked at him with unsympathetic eyes before taking out a bunch of papers and putting them on top of the table.

 

“The sooner we’re done, the faster I’ll be out of here,” he said. Luhan opened his eyes and looked at Sehun warily. Sehun took out a pencil and held it out, daring Luhan to take it. After much reluctance, Luhan slowly took the pencil from Sehun.

 

“Fine, let’s do this,” Luhan sighed and ignored the smug look on Sehun before leaning forward and listening to Sehun’s instructions.

 

►♦►

 

“I’m so fucking tired,” Luhan stretched his arms and yawned. Although he didn’t say anything, Luhan knew Sehun was tired as well. Sehun slowly put the pencil down and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes.

 

“I guess we could use a break,” Sehun said, “10 minutes. Do whatever you want to do during that time.”

 

Luhan glared at Sehun before bringing his legs up, sitting in a criss-cross position. He took out his phone and scrolled down the contact list.

 

“Aren’t you hungry? I’m absolutely starving.”

 

Sehun opened his eyes and blinked.

 

“Food sounds nice.”

 

Luhan lifted his eyes and met Sehun’s. “Pizza?”

 

“Sure.”

 

Luhan paused on a number and made a quick call. After hanging up, Luhan threw his phone on the bed and looked back at Sehun, who already had a book out and was reading it.

 

“Do you always read?” Luhan blurted out, earning an amused eye roll from the junior.

 

“I mean, doesn’t it ever get....you know...boring?”

 

Sehun flipped a page and replied with his eyes never leaving the page.

 

“No, it’s actually quite fun. As long as you have decent intelligence, that is.”

 

Sehun’s eyes travelled down the page, and after a short pause, his mouth opened again.

 

“-which I believe you lack, but it’s alright.”

 

Luhan’s jaw dropped open.

 

“Are you calling me dumb?”

 

The corner of Sehun’s mouth went up.

 

“Of course not. Why would I ever do such a thing?’

 

“You did! You just called me dumb!” Luhan pointed an accusing finger at Sehun.

 

“No, I just implied you didn’t have the intelligence to actually enjoy a book. That’s different from being dumb. You’re just not bright.”

 

Luhan’s eyes narrowed threateningly, and the peace that was in the room minutes ago was once again crushed underneath the anger radiating off him.

 

“I asked you a simple question, and you reply with an insult?!” Luhan threw his hands up, “I don’t know why I need to try to act civil when you’re the one being an absolute jerk.”

 

“Oh, you were actually trying to be civil? I’m sorry, I didn’t notice.”

 

“Yah, Oh Sehun!”

 

Suddenly, Sehun laughed out loud, and although it was quiet enough, it was enough to make Luhan freeze. Sehun put down his book on the desk and doubled over.

 

“I’m sorry,” Sehun said after finally calming down, “I just couldn’t resist. It’s just so funny to see you all riled up.”

 

Luhan broke out of his daze and looked at Sehun’s sly smile.

 

“You know, I think that’s the first time I ever heard you laugh.”

 

Sehun propped up an arm and leaned his head against his hand. “To be fair I don’t think you ever actually genuinely laughed in front of me either. You’ve heard me now, so that just leaves you, doesn’t it?”

 

Luhan scoffed.

 

“Don’t get too cocky. You aren’t going to make me laugh any time soon, asshole.”

 

“I wouldn’t be too sure,” Sehun said, and was cut off by a loud ring downstairs. Luhan sprang up and pulled open the door, running down.

 

“PIZZA!!!”

 

Sehun could hear Luhan’s loud bellow and a terrified whimper from the delivery guy. Laughing once again, Sehun drummed his fingers against the desk and waited for Luhan to come back.

 

To be honest, I don’t even remember the last time I laughed either, Luhan.

 

Sehun turned his head and stared at the the other’s room. It was so different from his. It was painfully obvious how different they were, and although it would be normal for him to just turn and walk away, something stopped him from doing so. He didn’t want to leave - at least not now. He was having too much fun. Luhan managed to piss him off and make him laugh, something most people couldn’t do. He found himself on a rollercoaster whenever he was with the older, and it was as addicting as a drug.

 

Xi Luhan was addicting.

 

That was clear to Sehun, and even if he didn’t like to take chances, he would with Luhan.

 

“YAH!!!!”

 

Sehun’s eyes flew to the open door as he heard Luhan’s yell echo throughout the house.

 

“If you want some of this damn pizza you’re going to have to come downstairs! I ain’t going to deliver this to you princess!”

 

Sehun sighed and stood up slowly. He walked to the living room to see that Luhan had already turned on the TV and opened the pizza box.

 

“You know, it’s been already 30 minutes,” Sehun commented as he took his seat besides Luhan, “I gave you 10 minutes to rest.”

 

“Not my fault the pizza delivery guy is slow as fuck,” Luhan snapped between bites. He closed his eyes and moaned at the delicious taste. When he opened his eyes, he saw Sehun giving him an incredulous look.

 

“What?” Luhan said with a frown, “haven’t you ever seen anyone eat before? I wouldn’t be surprised, seeing how you always eat alone.”

 

“You sound like you’re having sex with food,” Sehun deadpanned, “it’s not very pleasant to hear.”

 

“Oh please, you should hear Chanyeol. Now that’s disgusting.”

 

Sehun sighed and reached for a slice when Luhan suddenly leapt forward, knocking Sehun’s hand away.

 

“Don’t take this one,” Luhan growled, and pointed at a much smaller piece on the other side, “that’s yours.”

 

“Why can’t I take this one?” Sehun pushed Luhan away and tried to grab the slice, only to be pushed back onto the couch.

 

“Because I called it the moment the box opened. You can’t just steal someone else’s slice. That’s immoral. You take that one.”

 

“Luha-”

 

Luhan turned around and quickly took the slice and placed it on Sehun’s hands. Sehun stared at the rather pathetic looking piece in his hands.

 

“I paid, so no complaining,” Luhan said. He put on a quick fake smile before facing the TV once more. After much reluctance, Sehun decided to give up and took a small bite.

 

“You’re impossible,” Sehun muttered. Luhan quirked an eyebrow, but a small smile took its place on his lips.

 

“I know. That’s what makes me so amusing.”

 

“That I agree with.”

 

Are you saying I’m laughable?!”

 Sehun sighed and sank deeper into the couch. 

“Here we go again.”